- Oberlin Conservatory of Music
-
The Oberlin Conservatory of Music, located on the campus of Oberlin College in Oberlin, Ohio, was founded in 1865 and is the oldest continuously operating conservatory in the United States. Students of Oberlin Conservatory enter a very broad network within the music world, as the school's alumni can be found in most major professional ensembles. Admission is based primarily on an extremely competitive audition. Over 1400 musicians from around the world apply for a freshman class of around 120. It is one of the few American conservatories to be completely attached to a liberal arts college (Oberlin College, allowing students the opportunity to seriously pursue degrees in both music and a traditional liberal arts subject via the five year Double-Degree program). Oberlin College and Conservatory pride themselves on being almost exclusively undergraduate.
In an interview between Frank J. Oteri and Timothy Weiss, the coach of the famous contemporary music ensemble "eighth blackbird," Weiss states "One advantage [of Oberlin] is that there are only undergraduates, and the reason I think this is an advantage is that at a school like Juilliard or other schools you might name that have a very strong or large population of graduate students is that those students, by their nature, tend to be somewhat more vocationally minded. They are understandably worried about their next step as musicians: How are they going to enter the industry? How are they going to make a living? And because of that, that can trickle down. The nice thing at Oberlin is that they are immensely talented, but they're not really concerned about their future. They might be a little bit, but it's not what occupies their thoughts. They are thinking about music as an art form. They're preoccupied with how they're going to change the artistic culture. And I think that's actually very important."
Oberlin Conservatory is a recipient of the 2009 National Medal of Arts, the highest award given by the United States government to artists and arts patrons in recognition of the wealth and depth of their creative expressions. The Oberlin Conservatory of Music is the only professional music school to be so honored by President Obama.
The conservatory also contains the largest collection of Steinway & Sons pianos outside the Steinway factory.
Minoru Yamasaki designed the conservatory building in 1963. The style of the building closely resembles Yamasaki's later design of the World Trade Center in New York City.
Contents
Undergraduate courses offered
- Composition
- Jazz Studies
- Technology In Music And Related Arts (TIMARA)
- Organ
- Piano
- Vocal Performance
- Music Education
- Music Theory
- Music History
- Historical performance
- Instrumental Music Performance - for flute, clarinet, oboe, trumpet, trombone, bassoon, French horn, tuba, violin, viola, double bass, cello, harp and classical guitar
- Percussion
Notable alumni/ae
- Cory Arcangel, computer artist
- Eric Bogosian, writer, actor, performer
- Sibbi Bernhardsson, violinist, Pacifica Quartet
- MaVynee Betsch, piano and voice
- Brian Chase, drummer Yeah Yeah Yeahs
- Will Chase, Broadway actor
- James David Christie, organist and pedagogue
- Stanley Cowell, jazz pianist
- Jeremy Denk, pianist
- R. Nathaniel Dett, conductor, pianist, composer, arranger
- eighth blackbird (all members), contemporary music sextet
- Moppa Elliott, bassist and leader of Mostly Other People Do the Killing
- Peter Evans, trumpeter
- James Feddeck, conductor
- Simin Ganatra, violinist, Pacifica Quartet
- Kyle Gann, composer
- James Giles, pianist
- Judith Gordon, pianist
- Denyce Graves, mezzo-soprano
- Anne Gross, soprano
- Natalie Hinderas, professor, pianist and composer
- Moses Hogan, conductor, composer, and arranger
- Paul Horn, flute, saxophones
- Matt Hubbard (musician), Willie Nelson producer and member of 7 Walkers
- Cristin J Hubbard, actor/singer, Madame Giry in The Phantom of the Opera on Broadway
- International Contemporary Ensemble, contemporary music ensemble
- Steven Isserlis, cellist
- John Kennedy, composer and conductor
- Carla Kihlstedt, violinist/singer
- Alex Klein, oboist
- Jennifer Koh, violinist
- Judy Kuhn, actress/singer
- Scott Lawton, conductor
- Sylvia Olden Lee, vocal coach and accompanist
- Rex Lee, actor on HBO series Entourage
- Michael Maguire, actor/singer, best known for playing Enjolras in the original Broadway production of Les Misérables
- David Maslanka, composer
- James McBride, saxophonist, composer, and author of the New York Times best-seller, The Color of Water
- Charles Edward McGuire, musicologist and author of Music and Victorian Philanthropy: The Tonic Sol-fa Movement and Epic Narration: The Oratorios of Edward Elgar
- Kevin McHugh, pianist
- David Miller, tenor, member of the multi-platinum operatic pop quartet Il Divo
- Amy X Neuburg, composer/singer/electronic artist
- Kassa Overall, jazz drummer
- James Paul, conductor
- William Porter, organist and pedagogue
- Marni Raab, plays Christine in The Phantom of the Opera
- Derek Lee Ragin, countertenor
- Lenore Rosenberg, Associate Artistic Administrator of the Metropolitan Opera
- Thomas Rosenkranz, pianist
- Ned Rothenberg, woodwind multi-instrumentalist/composer
- Christopher Rouse, Pulitzer Prize winning composer [1]
- Lisa Saffer, soprano
- Greg Saunier, drummer for Deerhoof
- Jenny Scheinman, jazz violinist
- Andrew Shapiro, composer/songwriter
- Robert Sims
- Robert Spano, conductor
- Robert Shannon, pianist, director of the keyboard department at the Oberlin Conservatory
- William Grant Still, composer (did not graduate)
- Jon Theodore, drummer The Mars Volta
- David Zinman, conductor
See also
- List of colleges and university schools of music in the USA
External links
- Conservatory Website
- Conservatory of Music on Oberwiki
- Oberlin College Archives, see Record Group 10 for Conservatory-specific material
- Oberlin Woodwind Ensemble with director George E. Waln, circa 1948-51 (photo)
- Art of the States: Oberlin Contemporary Music Ensemble live and studio performances from the Oberlin Conservatory
Categories:- Oberlin College
- Music schools in Ohio
- Educational institutions established in 1865
- United States National Medal of Arts recipients
- Education in Lorain County, Ohio
- Visitor attractions in Lorain County, Ohio
- Buildings and structures in Lorain County, Ohio
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.