The second annual New Music on the Bayou Festival is providing four days full of new music in Northeast Louisiana. Wednesday May 31st, through Saturday June 3rd, there will be seven concerts spread throughout Ruston and Monroe showcasing music composed around the world and performed by local artists.
Mel Mobley, associate professor of music at the University of Louisiana Monroe, and Greg Lyons, assistant professor of music at Louisiana Tech University, started this festival last year as a chance for the community to be exposed to more new music. There will be compositions written by people as close as Monroe and as far as Israel.
The festival kicks off Wednesday night at the Stone Theatre on campus at Louisiana Tech at 7 p.m. The following day there will be a concert in Ruston at 10 a.m. at the Louisiana Public Library Event Center followed by a presentation on Israeli jazz and a concert that night during the Downtown Gallery Crawl at the Palace Gallery. Friday the music begins at North Minister church in Monroe at 1 p.m. followed by another concert at the Biedenharn Recital Hall on campus at ULM at 7 p.m. The last day of the festival will begin at the Black Bayou Wildlife Refuge where the musicians will be playing in the amphitheater there. The festival will end with a showcase concert at the Strauss Theatre and an awards ceremony.
The first six concerts are free for the community, and tickets are available for the showcase and awards ceremony. More information on the festival and a link to purchase tickets can be found here.