School of Music, Theatre, and Dance

Last updated
School of Music, Theatre, and Dance
University of Michigan August 2013 056 (Earl V. Moore Building).jpg
Earl V. Moore Building
Type Public
Established1880
Parent institution
University of Michigan
Dean David Gier [1]
Academic staff
155
Students1,105 (2020-2021)
Undergraduates 832
Postgraduates 273
Location, ,
Campus Urban
YouTube www.youtube.com/@UMICHSMTD
Website smtd.umich.edu

The School of Music, Theatre, and Dance [2] is the undergraduate and graduate school for the performing arts of the University of Michigan, in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. [3]

Contents

The school was founded in 1880 as the Ann Arbor School of Music. It was originally independent from the university until 1929. [3]

The School is located on the University of Michigan's North Campus, which is also home to the College of Engineering, the Stamps School of Art and Design, and the Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning. [4]

History

The school was founded in 1880 after Henry Simmons Frieze, founder and president of the Choral Union and the University Musical Society, urged leaders to include music among the school's offerings. Administrators and Deans include Charles Sink, Earl V. Moore, James B. Wallace, Allen Britton, Paul Boylan, Karen Wolff (2000–05), Christopher Kendall (2005–15), Aaron Dworkin (2015-18), and David Gier (2018–present). Known then as the Ann Arbor School of Music, the school was originally independent from the university. [5] It was later formally incorporated into the University of Michigan in 1929, with Earl V. Moore as its director. [3]

Notable alumni

Well known alumni include playwright Arthur Miller, actors James Earl Jones, Gavin Creel, Joe Serafini, Darren Criss, Jo Ellen Pellman, David Alan Grier and Lucy Liu, musicians Jessye Norman, Yakov Kreizberg, Ashley Putnam, William Albright, George Crumb, Alexander Frey, Normand Lockwood, Cynthia Phelps, Colin Stetson, David Daniels, Chip Davis, and Michael Fabiano, as well as the pop star Madonna.

See also the list of University of Michigan arts alumni.

Performance training areas

The university puts on more than a dozen main stage productions and concerts every year. Besides its main stage productions, the school also offers performance opportunities through studio productions and student-run groups.

Main stage and studio productions

Main stage and studio productions staged by the university every year include:

Ensembles

Musicians have the opportunity to perform in many ensembles in connection with the university. These include choral ensembles, orchestras, wind bands, historical music ensembles, jazz ensembles, electronic and new music ensembles, chamber music groups, and world music ensembles. [9]

Gamelans

The school is home to one of the longest-established Javanese gamelan ensembles in the United States. This group of instruments, known formally as Kyai Telaga Madu (Venerable Lake of Honey), has been at the university since 1966, when its purchase was negotiated and organized by Bill Malm. [10] From 1968 until 2002, the ensemble was under the direction of faculty ethnomusicologist Judith Becker. The ensemble is currently directed by Gavin Ryan.

Bands

Wind ensembles, under the University Bands, provide a central performance and training opportunity for students at the school. [11] The wind ensembles provide a primary training opportunity for most instrumentalists at the school, who may audition to perform in one of the two top ensembles, the Symphony Band and Concert Band. The Michigan Marching Band is also a component of the University Bands and provides music and entertainment at university athletic events. Students attending all U-M campuses (Ann Arbor, Dearborn, and Flint), with any major, are welcome to audition for any of the Athletic Bands. [12]

Orchestras

Students also receive training in large orchestral ensembles. [13] Ensemble opportunities for students include the University Symphony Orchestra, the University Philharmonia Orchestra, the Contemporary Directions Ensemble, and pit orchestra for opera productions. [14] In addition, two Campus Orchestras are composed of non-music major students, faculty members, staff, and alumni of the University of Michigan. [15]

Student organizations

Student organizations through the university include:

Facilities

The school's facilities are located in Ann Arbor, Michigan. On the University of Michigan north campus, these include the Earl V. Moore Building, the Stearns Building, the Walgreen Drama Center, the Dance Building [20] and the Lurie Carillon. Specific north campus facilities include studios in the James and Anne Duderstadt Center, as well as the Arthur Miller Theater and the Stamps Auditorium (both in the Walgreen Drama Center). The Miller Theater is the only theater given permission by the estate of Arthur Miller to bear the playwright's name. [21] On central campus, the school's facilities include Hill Auditorium, the Power Center and Burton Memorial Tower, which houses the Charles Baird Carillon. The university's south campus is home to William D. Revelli Hall, which houses offices and rehearsal space for the University of Michigan Marching Band.

History of the Moore Building

The majority of the school's teaching spaces, faculty offices, and music library, are located in the Earl V. Moore Building. This building is named after a previous dean of the school, and was designed in a mid-century modern style by architect Eero Saarinen. [22] Saarinen was commissioned to design the master plan for the University of Michigan's North Campus, he requested to design the music school building (now the Earl V. Moore Building). [23]

The original scheme called for an L-shaped building and a circular concert hall. Completed in 1964, the result was a five-level pavilion with flanking wings. Saarinen envisioned a building in harmony with nature, and so designed the building to be built into a hill overlooking a pond. The brick-clad concrete structure has narrow vertical windows that contrast with the horizontal brick patterns, thought to represent the alternating colors of piano keys. The brick color is known as "Cranbrook Buff" for its reference to the color of the buildings on the campus of the Cranbrook Education Community. The style of this building has influenced almost all of the later construction on North Campus.

The original building contained 2 rehearsal/concert halls, 45 performance teaching studios, 18 classrooms, 40 offices, a large library, 120 practice rooms, including 12 organ practice rooms, and other special facilities for piano, harp, harpsichord and percussion practice. The construction of this building allowed for the first increase in enrollment since 1946.

During construction of the building, Saarinen was diagnosed with a brain tumor, but he was able to watch the progress of the building from his room at University Hospital.

According to the financial report submitted by President Harlan Hatcher to the Board of Regents in 1966, the University of Michigan had the second academic music school in the United States, after the University of Indiana School of Music. The Ann Arbor campus and the University Division of the National Music Camp at Interlochen enrolled the largest summer music session in the U.S. [24]

Renovation

On October 30, 2012, University of Michigan President Mary Sue Coleman announced an $8-million gift from William K. Brehm and Delores S. Brehm, a major contribution toward the cost of renovating and expanding the Moore Building. [25] Of the total cost, another $14 million is allocated from the university, with the remaining balance to come from additional fundraising, including a gift from Glenn E. Watkins, emeritus professor of musicology. Construction for the project commenced in early 2014 and was finished in the fall of 2015. [26] The renovation, which cost $29.5 million and added 34,000 square feet, [27] includes a rehearsal with the footprint of Hill Auditorium, revamping of the McIntosh Theater, a lecture hall, an entrance and lobby, and new practice and teaching rooms. [28]

Departments and degree programs

The School of Music, Theatre & Dance offers degrees from the bachelors to the doctoral level. Seventeen academic departments make up the School of Music, Theatre & Dance, each offering several degree programs. [29] They include:

Notable projects

Michigan Performance Outreach Workshop

The Gershwin Initiative

University of Michigan Javanese Gamelan

EXCEL Program

Center for World Performance Studies

Research

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42°17′25.1″N83°43′15.6″W / 42.290306°N 83.721000°W / 42.290306; -83.721000