Collinsville graduate Adam Kosberg brought his brass quintet to Collinsville Middle and High Schools to perform and talk to students about music and his career as a musician.
Kosberg, a 2005 graduate of Collinsville High School, introduced his brass quintet night music to Collinsville music students. The group performed several styles of music and took questions from the audience. The professional musicians talked in depth about their various instruments and explained the musical pieces in terms well-understood by the student musicians and singers.
Kosberg is completing his doctorate in bass trombone performance and literature at the University of Illinois. He will finish in May of this year. The brass quintet grew out of his association with other budding musicians who wanted to form an ensemble separate from the University an ensemble they could completely nurture and control.
For the past year and a half, the group has built concert programs and promoted themselves as serious artists.
Upon graduation from CHS, KOSBERG was awarded a full scholarship to Millikin University for academics and music performance. Since he began at the University of Illinois he has served for three semesters as the trombone studio teaching assistant under Professor Elliot Chasanov, performed with all of the top musical ensembles, served as bass trombone for the Heartland Symphony Orchestra and Urbana Pops Orchestra, and substituted with orchestras such as the Illinois Symphony and Champaign-Urbana Symphony
Growing up in Collinsville, Kosberg attended Webster Elementary and North Junior High — in addition to CHS. He says, “My band directors were the most important influence: Bruce Hawkins at North Jr. High, Robert Boedges, James Kerfoot and Melissa Gustafson-Hinds at the high school. Collinsville has been and is still gifted with excellent music teachers.”
After completing his doctoral studies, Kosberg plans to continue improving as a scholar and musician. He feels it is important to share his experiences and love of music with young people.
I enjoy performing for students who are in the position I was not very many years ago, said Kosberg, I hope that our example can serve as inspiration for not only those who decide to pursue music, but all whose lives are guided by passion and dedication to becoming a better version of themselves every day.
His advice to middle and high school students is: “Be yourself at every possible opportunity, and remember that middle and high school are just for right now — the world is much, much bigger than you can possibly realize. Make an effort to make friends everywhere — they can change your life in ways you’ll never expect. And remember that everyone has something to teach you, but you have the most to learn from yourself.”
On Thursday, March 24, nightmusic performed a community concert at St. John UCC in Collinsville. Admission was free, but donations collected that evening will support nightmusic’s efforts to bring educational concerts and masterclasses to public schools.
Check out a video of nightmusic’s performance at CMS: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ym3A84hIwp4&authuser=0