Announcing the 2026-2027 ILMEA Remix Contest - “Let It All Go” by Ray Sanders!
“Let It All Go” was an award winner in the 2025-2026 Composition Contest, Rap/Hip Hop Category, and was selected to be the source material for next year’s Remix contest.
2025-2026 Composition Contest Honorees
With yet another record-breaking year of entries, we are excited to announce the 2025-2026 ILMEA Composition Contest honorees ! Congratulations to all students who submitted original compositions, arrangements and remixes - the adjudicators each year comment on the outstanding quality of musical works being written by Illinois music students.
Updates to All-State Student Schedules for 2026
The exciting addition of Junior High All-State in Peoria this January brings about some schedule changes for our All-State student programs at all levels.
Please take some time to review the ensemble schedules - we know that until All-State results are released in early December, you won’t be able to make concrete plans for your time in Peoria, but we need to bring your attention to these changes sooner rather than later!
2026 Large Group Festival Registration NOW OPEN!
Join us for the 2026 ILMEA Large Group Festival series! We invite all participating middle and high school band, orchestra, instrumental jazz and chorus programs to join us in this unique event designed to bring our musical community together for world-class performance venues, invaluable feedback from renowned adjudicators, inspiring performances, and the opportunity to support fellow educators and students from around the state!
IMEC 2025 Photo Gallery
25-26 Remix Context
Spring Festival Opportunities
Spring Festivals are coming soon! These are fantastic musical experiences for student musicians that might not be part of the fall auditions and festivals, so the spring festivals are a great time to focus on the music-making that happens at your school outside of the traditional ensembles. These festivals are also open to participants from other districts!
What's New in JSGM?
If you want to see where some of the biggest and most varied growth has been happening within ILMEA over the past few years, you’d need to take a look at the Junior/Senior General Music (JSGM) division! With new festivals, album streaming releases and an expanded Composition Contest there’s lots to catch up on to see how you and your students can get involved!
