Contact us

Kathy Benischek, staff assistant
Department of Music
(402) 465-2269
kmb [at] nebrwesleyan.edu
Nebraska Wesleyan University
5000 Saint Paul Avenue
Lincoln, NE 68504

Music Degrees

Whether your love of music stems from a desire to sing, to play or teach, NWU Music is your ideal place to grow. You can earn a bachelor of arts degree or a bachelor of music degree in music education or performance. Study music theory, composition, history and world music.

Then put your learning into performance in our 1,300-seat concert hall with full schedules in vocal and instrumental concerts as well as opera. Tour both nationally and globally as you grow as a performer.

Get amazing results.

NWU Music alumni regularly leave their marks at top music graduate programs around the country, studying at schools such as Harvard, The Manhattan School of Music, The University of Texas–Austin, Northwestern, The University of Kansas, University of Houston–Moores School of Music, The Maryland Opera Studio, and Florida State University.

Music majors’ e-portfolios help them stand out as they launch careers in such fields as music education, music therapy, law, ministry, and business.

Music faculty

The NWU Music faculty includes an American musicologist and gender and sexuality studies professor who received Nebraska Wesleyan’s 2014 Exemplary Teacher Award as well as a nationally renowned choral director whose choral compositions are performed from coast to coast. Many of our music professors are also outstanding artists in their own right, performing in diverse genres from opera to polka.

 

Excellent Music Performances

Hear the Nebraska Wesleyan University Choir sing "A Silence Haunts Me" composed by our 2020 Wesleyan Honors Festival Guest Conductor Jake Runestad. This piece was a particularly meaningful highlight of the choir's January 2020 performance tour to North and South Carolina, culminating in their performance for the National Conference on Sacred Music in Charleston, SC. 

  • Amy Spears headshot

    Music professor honored for internationalizing campus

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  • Sunflower note image

    University choir concert aimed at humanitarian aid for Ukraine

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  • Jana Holzmeier portrait

    Music professor named Exemplary Teacher of the Year

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  • Nebraska Wesleyan University’s band concert Messages from Mother Earth

    Climatologist visits NWU for holiday symphonic band concert

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  • Tidings of Comfort and Joy: Christmas with Nebraska Wesleyan 

    Two local choirs to perform Christmas concert with NWU

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  • John Spilker: Holder Award for Instructional Improvement

    Music professor wins Instructional Improvement Award

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  • Music alumni honors

    Music alumni honored at homecoming

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  • Christmas With Wesleyan

    Area Choirs to Perform Christmas with Wesleyan

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  • The University Choir will be joined by over 200 alumni and three high school choirs that are directed by NWU alumni for a May 26th performance at Carnegie Hall.

    NWU Choir, alumni perform at Carnegie Hall

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  • Senior Luke Gregerson has been accepted to the prestigious Japanese Exchange and Teaching (JET) Program, which will send the English and music double major to Japan for a year where he will help teach English.

    JET program sends English, music major to Japan

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  • Thanks to a gift from the Pearle Francis Finigan Foundation, a professional LED lighting system has been installed in O'Donnell Auditorium to enhance the experience for both the performers and the audience.

    Bold Designs campaign lights up O'Donnell Auditorium

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  • Amy Spears, assistant professor of music, portrait

    Music professor named Exemplary Teacher

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