The college has three divisions: the Music Conservatory, the Interdisciplinary Conservatory, and the Theatre Conservatory. Nearly 600 students come from more than 40 states and 25 countries to study at the college. Its faculty consists primarily of world class professional actors, directors, performers, and musicians, including nearly 30 members of the Chicago Symphony and the Lyric Opera of Chicago (half of whom are principals) and theatre performers with credits from Broadway to Chicago and the West Coast.
History
Chicago Musical College was founded in 1867, less than four decades after the city of Chicago was incorporated. It has given over a hundred years of uninterrupted service to music and music education and has played an important role in the development of the cultural life of the Midwest.
In 1865, after initial efforts to establish a college of music, the Chicago Conservatorium of Music was founded, with Florenz Ziegfeld, Sr. as its director. (Ziegfeld Sr. was the father of Florenz, Jr., who is better known as a successful and trail-blazing Broadway impresario.)
Two years later, in 1867, Ziegfeld established his own Chicago Academy of Music, the fourth conservatory in America. In 1871, the conservatory moved to a new building which was destroyed only a few weeks later by the Great Chicago Fire; despite the conflagration, the College was again up and running by the end of the year.
In 1872, the school changed its name to Chicago Musical College; over 900 students were enrolled in that year. A Normal Teachers' Institute was added to the school's offerings. Tuition in those far-off days cost an average of one dollar per lesson. Four years later the State of Illinois accredited the College as a degree granting institution of higher learning. A Preparatory Division was opened which established branches throughout the city.
Rudolph Ganz joined Chicago Musical College's faculty in 1900 and, except for a brief hiatus in the 1920s, remained associated with the school until his death in 1972. In 1917, the school offered a master of music degree, and seven years later the school became a charter member of the National Association of Schools of Music.
By 1925, the college moved into its own eleven-story building at 64 E. Van Buren Street. One hundred and twenty-five names appeared on the faculty roster for that year, and the school opened three dormitory floors for students. In 1936, the school was admitted as a full member to the North Central Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools, the only independent music college in the Midwest to enjoy such status. By 1947 the college was offering doctorates in fine arts and music education.
In 1954, the school merged with Roosevelt University's School of Music which was founded in 1945. The name "Chicago Musical College" was retained for the new college which was created by the union of the two schools. All operations moved to join the University in the now national landmark Auditorium Building at 430 South Michigan Avenue in Chicago's Loop. The building houses one of the finest auditoriums in the world, in addition to the Rudolph Ganz Memorial Recital Hall.
In the fall of 1997 Roosevelt established a College of Performing Arts which joined Chicago Musical College and the Theater Program under one administrative unit. In 2000, under the leadership of new dean James Gandre, the name was changed to Chicago College of Performing Arts. Rudy Marcozzi acted as Interim Dean during the 2008-2009 school year until Henry Fogel, the former President of the Chicago Symphony, assumed the post of dean of the college in the Fall of 2009. Linda Berna is the associate dean/director of the Music Conservatory, and Ray Frewen is the associate dean/director of the Theatre Conservatory.
Ganz Hall
Ganz Hall was originally conceived as a banquet hall for the Auditorium Hotel after the building had already been constructed in 1890. Louis Sullivan, the architect of the building, was faced with trying to build a new large space within the world's largest mixed-use high-rise building. The only area available for constructing a room for banqueting was above the Auditorium Theatre.
The two primary innovations of the project were to design a special support system for a two-story structure and bring about a refined space capable of formal dining. First, Sullivan worked closely with his partner and structural engineer, Dankmar Adler, to develop a system of iron trusses. The entire frame of the building was constructed to span across the top of the Theatre similar to the long spans of bridge design. This was the first innovation of the project.
The Banquet Hall, entered from the seventh floor of the hotel, is a fine example of the refinement of the ornamentation, the second innovation. Sullivan used a unique and distinctive system of ornamentation such as carved wood panels and capitals, stenciled wall patterns, elaborate plaster work, gilded lighting fixtures, and the use of Michigan birch and gold leaf - all of which made the interior striking. A young apprentice working for Sullivan, Frank Lloyd Wright, had obtained much responsibility at the time and designed some of the ornament.
The ornament is quite intricate and well-developed. The columns are large tapered-over scaled piers with rounded corners from which the ornament "appears" from the grain of the wood. The piers were a modern expression of the time because Sullivan stripped away all the traditional Victorian details in lieu of a simple oversized design.
Alterations
Around 1912, the Banquet Hall was used as a Masonic Lodge. The Masons made several alterations. The musicians' gallery at the north end of the hall was removed. A balcony was installed at the rear of the hall. They also sealed the center pair of doors, removed three of the stained glass windows, and painted the remaining windows black. The stencils were painted over and acoustical tiles were applied to the face of the beams.
In 1956, Chicago Musical College of Roosevelt University obtained the Hall. Many of the Masons' alterations were eliminated and the Hall was restored and converted to a recital hall. Under the direction of architect Crombie Taylor, the goal of restoring the room as closely as possible to the original ornamentation while providing an attractive hall for music recitals was begun. A stage and fixed theatre seating were installed to achieve this function. The majority of stencil patterns were recovered. Today, reproductions of the stencils remain on the back wall and in one of the arches as originally designed by Sullivan. However, some of the work that was planned, such as the stenciling on the beams and walls, and installing the ornamental light fixtures, was not completed at that time.
In 1980, architect John Vinci completed a project that helped control the environmental effects on the hall. A new roof and exterior wall system were installed along with new windows and skylights. Water that had been seeping into the Hall was eliminated. This was the beginning of keeping the Hall intact without further damage.
Work continues to restore the hall to its former splendor and provide adequately for use of the space as a recital hall. In 2001 the paintings lining the walls were removed and restored at the Art Institute. In the fall of 2002 the "electroliers" were recreated and installed, as well as a new HVAC system.
The Eastman School of Music is the music school of the University of Rochester, a private research university in Rochester, New York, United States. Established in 1921 by celebrated industrialist and philanthropist George Eastman, it was the first professional school of the university.
The New England Conservatory of Music (NEC) is a private music school in Boston, Massachusetts. The conservatory is located on Huntington Avenue along the Avenue of the Arts near Boston Symphony Hall, and is home to approximately 750 students pursuing undergraduate and graduate studies, and 1,500 more in its Preparatory School and School of Continuing Education. NEC offers bachelor's degrees in instrumental and vocal classical music performance, contemporary musical arts, composition, jazz studies, music history, and music theory, as well as graduate degrees in collaborative piano, conducting, and musicology. The conservatory has also partnered with Harvard University and Tufts University to create joint double-degree, five-year programs.
Roosevelt University is a private university with campuses in Chicago and Schaumburg, Illinois. Founded in 1945, the university was named in honor of United States President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt. The university enrolls around 4,000 students between its undergraduate and graduate programs. Roosevelt is home to the Chicago College of Performing Arts.
Chicago Musical College is a division of the Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University.
The Marcus Performing Arts Center is a performing arts center in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States. Managed by a non-profit organization, it is marketed as Milwaukee's premier presenter of the performing arts. It is located at 929 North Water Street, at the intersection of State Street in downtown Milwaukee, and is a dedicated War Memorial.
The Auditorium Theatre is a music and performance venue located in the Auditorium Building at 50 E. Ida B. Wells Drive in Chicago, Illinois. Inspired by the Richardsonian Romanesque Style of architect Henry Hobson Richardson, the building was designed by Dankmar Adler and Louis Sullivan and completed in 1889. The Chicago Symphony Orchestra performed in the theatre until 1904 as well as the Chicago Grand Opera Company and its successors the Chicago Opera Association and Chicago Civic Opera until its relocation to the Civic Opera House in 1929. The theater was home to the Joffrey Ballet from 1998 until 2020. It currently hosts a variety of concerts, musicals, performances, and events. Since the 1940s, it has been owned by Roosevelt University and since the 1960s it has been refurbished and managed by an independent non-profit arts organization.
The Bienen School of Music is the music and performance arts school of Northwestern University. It is located on Northwestern University's campus in Evanston, Illinois, United States.
Rudolph Ganz was a Swiss-born American pianist, conductor, composer, and music educator.
The American Conservatory of Music (ACM) was a major American school of music founded in Chicago in 1886 by John James Hattstaedt (1851–1931). The conservatory was incorporated as an Illinois non-profit corporation. It developed the Conservatory Symphony Orchestra and had numerous student recitals. The oldest private degree-granting music school in the Midwestern United States, it was located in Chicago until 1991.
The College of Fine Arts & Communication at East Carolina University is composed of four schools. The College was created on July 1, 2003, but has its roots to the beginning of ECU in 1907. The School of Theatre and Dance runs productions by the East Carolina Playhouse and the East Carolina Summer Theatre. In 2022, Linda Kean was appointed dean of the College of Fine Arts and Communication.
The University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music (CCM) is a performing and media arts college of the University of Cincinnati in Cincinnati, Ohio. Initially established as the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music in 1867, CCM is one of the oldest continually operating conservatories in the United States.
Marcus Thompson is a violist and viola d'amore player known for his work as a recitalist, orchestral soloist, chamber musician, recording artist and educator. Thompson is a founding member and is currently artistic director of the Boston Chamber Music Society, and is Institute Professor at MIT and a faculty member at the New England Conservatory of Music.
Chicago High School for the Arts (ChiArts) is a public four–year college preparatory visual and performing arts high school located in the West Town community area, in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Operated by the Chicago Public Schools district, The school opened for the 2009–10 school year.
The Theatre Conservatory of Chicago College of Performing Arts is a theatre arts conservatory based in Chicago, Illinois at Roosevelt University. The school offers Bachelor of Fine Arts degrees in acting, Musical Theatre, and Musical Theatre Dance Emphasis as well as a Masters of Fine Arts in Directing offered during the summer. The conservatory currently holds classes and productions out of two theatres, the O'Malley Theatre and the Miller Studio Theatre. Both of which can be found on the Roosevelt University campus.
The Conservatory of Music at Wheaton College is a music conservatory located in Wheaton, Illinois. It is both a department and professional school of Wheaton College. It currently has 21 full-time faculty members and approximately 200 undergraduate music majors, and is fully accredited by the National Association of Schools of Music. The Conservatory also operates a Community School of the Arts, serving the music and arts education needs of the surrounding community.
The Don Wright Faculty of Music is the faculty of music at the University of Western Ontario in London, Ontario, Canada. The faculty was founded in 1968. Originally known as just the Faculty of Music, it was renamed in 2002 in honour of Don Wright after a significant donation.
Steinway Hall was an 11-story office building, and ground-floor theater, located at 64 East Van Buren Street in Chicago, Illinois. The theater had at least 14 names over the years, opening in 1896 as the Steinway Music Hall, and closing in the late 1960s as Capri Cinema. In the early 1900s, the building held the offices and nucleus of a group of famous Chicago architects that included a young Frank Lloyd Wright. These architects, inspired by the Arts and Crafts Movement and the philosophies of Louis Sullivan, formed what would become known as the Prairie School.
The Faculty of Music at the University of Toronto is one of several professional faculties at the University of Toronto. The Faculty of Music is located at the Edward Johnson Building, just south of the Royal Ontario Museum and north of Queen's Park, west of Museum Subway Station. MacMillan Theatre and Walter Hall are located in the Edward Johnson Building. The Faculty of Music South building contains rehearsal rooms and offices, and the Upper Jazz Studio performance space is located at 90 Wellesley Street West. In January 2021, the Faculty announced Dr. Ellie Hisama as the new Dean starting July 1, 2021.
Natalia Khoma is a Ukrainian-born cellist. She is the first and only Ukrainian cellist to become a laureate of the International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow, Russia.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
