Music is alive & well in Illinois! After months and months of auditions and rehearsals, the best high school musicians will descend upon Peoria for the annual ILMEA conference. This year’s Illinois Music Educators Conference dates are January 30 – February 1st and will take place in various locations throughout downtown Peoria including the Mariott Pere Marquette, the Marriott Courtyard Downtown, the First United Methodist Church, the Scottish Rite Cathedral and the Peoria Civic Center.
Auditions took place in the fall in each of the 9 districts in Illinois for choir, band, orchestra as well as instrumental jazz and vocal. Students will spend Thursday & Friday rehearsing while teachers attend sessions focused on a wide variety of music eduction topics.
The conference concludes with the All State Jazz concert on Friday and the All State and Honors Band, Choral and Orchestra concerts on Saturday all happening at the Civic Center. The All State Elementary School Concerts also take place on Saturday morning at the Civic Center.
With over 11,500 attendees of the conference, the Peoria Area Convention and Visitors Bureau estimates over 3,000 hotel room nights at 25 hotels in Peoria and the surrounding communities will generate a whopping $3.4 million in estimated economic impact generated for the Peoria Area. The conference has taken place in Peoria since 1985 and last April, the organization signed a 5 year contract to continue to “Play in Peoria” each January through 2025.
Teachers will be able to find a variety of products and services from the around 250 exhibitors who will be on hand at the conference trade show in the Civic Center Exhibit Hall.
Virtually any type of music will be discussed or performed at the conference. Several performances are open to the public including the Friday All-State Jazz Night Concert taking place in the Peoria Civic Center Theater beginning at 7:30 pm. The All-State Band, Choral & Orchestra Concert will start on Saturday at 1 pm and the Honors Concert will begin at 3:30 pm both in the Peoria Civic Center arena. Tickets for each concert are $5 per person.
To find more information about ILMEA and the IMEC conference, visit https://www.facebook.com/ILMusicEd