sonorities

The School of Music is vibrant with change and new directions on multiple fronts which the College of Fine and Applied Arts is proud to support. From its major professional faculty ensembles such as the Sinfonia da Camera, the world renowned Pacifica Quartet, and the Illinois Brass Quintet to the student orchestras, ensembles, and choruses to the innovative scholarship of the musicologists so aptly illustrated by Bruno Nettl’s conference on improvisation—the School is responding to the new realities impacting scholarship and practice in the twenty-first century. I join in welcoming the new faculty and staff who are committed to preserving the legacy of the School of Music on the one hand while shaping its future with a sense of urgency, a commitment to excellence and a recognition of our responsibility to speak to a new generation of students.

We have managed to move the School forward in these exciting ways in spite of the stunning challenges of the state’s dwindling financial support for higher education. It has been especially hard in the arts because we do not have access to federally funded research dollars or to significant amounts of private support to bolster us in times of reduced state appropriations. Nevertheless, because of the compelling vision of the School as articulated by its director and faculty, we have made progress. An entrepreneurial spirit and a team effort involving a variety of campus partners and key donors have coalesced to refocus our programs including development of a jazz program, the residency of the Pacifica Quartet, exciting leadership of the opera program and the new music ensemble, and strategic hires in music education headlined by the recruitment of an internationally renowned scholar for the Zimmerman endowed chair.

The support of our alumni and friends is critical at this time in the School’s history. Your contributions to the annual fund—no matter the amount—aggregate into immediate support for School programs. Larger gifts secure the excellence of faculty hires and new curricular initiatives. We thank you in advance for your generosity—whether you are a first time donor or if you have a history of sustained support. You can also help us in recruiting the best undergraduates and graduates in the field to study at Illinois. Come to see us, meet the faculty, and direct those wonderful students to our programs. We think you will like what you see and you will partner with us in a genuine way to secure the legacy and advance the future of this magnificent School of Music.

I look forward to seeing you—at the annual tailgate, at a concert, at the opera... wherever we gather to celebrate music at Illinois.

Kathleen F. Conlin
Dean, College of Fine and Applied Arts

WINTER 2005