Longy School of Music
Encyclopedia
Music school
The term music school refers to an educational institution specialized in the study, training and research of music.Different terms refer to this concept such as school of music, music academy, music faculty, college of music, music department or conservatory.Music instruction can be provided...
located near Harvard Square
Harvard Square
Harvard Square is a large triangular area in the center of Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, at the intersection of Massachusetts Avenue, Brattle Street, and John F. Kennedy Street. It is the historic center of Cambridge...
in Cambridge, Massachusetts
Cambridge, Massachusetts
Cambridge is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, in the Greater Boston area. It was named in honor of the University of Cambridge in England, an important center of the Puritan theology embraced by the town's founders. Cambridge is home to two of the world's most prominent...
. Founded in 1915, it was one of the four independent degree-granting music schools in the Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
region along with the New England Conservatory, Berklee College of Music
Berklee College of Music
Berklee College of Music, located in Boston, Massachusetts, is the largest independent college of contemporary music in the world. Known primarily as a school for jazz, rock and popular music, it also offers college-level courses in a wide range of contemporary and historic styles, including hip...
, and Boston Conservatory
Boston Conservatory
The Boston Conservatory is a performing arts conservatory located in the Fenway-Kenmore region of Boston, Massachusetts, United States. It grants undergraduate and graduate degrees in music, dance and musical theater...
. In June 2011, the school officially merged with Bard College
Bard College
Bard College, founded in 1860 as "St. Stephen's College", is a small four-year liberal arts college located in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York.-Location:...
. In addition to its undergraduate and graduate programs, the Longy School also serves as a community music school with preparatory programs for children and high-school age musicians, and classes for non-professional adult musicians. As of the 2010–2011 academic year, the conservatory had 225 students in its degree programs from 37 states and 21 countries, with a further 1000 students enrolled in its preparatory and continuing education classes.
History
Boston Symphony Orchestra
The Boston Symphony Orchestra is an orchestra based in Boston, Massachusetts. It is one of the five American orchestras commonly referred to as the "Big Five". Founded in 1881, the BSO plays most of its concerts at Boston's Symphony Hall and in the summer performs at the Tanglewood Music Center...
in 1898. Upon his retirement in 1925, his daughter, Renée Longy-Miquelle, succeeded him as Director. She recruited several of Georges Longy's Boston Symphony colleagues as faculty members and established Dalcroze Eurhythmics
Eurhythmics
Dalcroze Eurhythmics, also known as the Dalcroze Method or simply Eurhythmics, is one of several developmental approaches including the Kodaly Method, Orff Schulwerk, Simply Music and Suzuki Method used to teach music education to students. Eurhythmics was developed in the early 20th century by...
as an important part of the School's curriculum.
The School moved across the Charles River
Charles River
The Charles River is an long river that flows in an overall northeasterly direction in eastern Massachusetts, USA. From its source in Hopkinton, the river travels through 22 cities and towns until reaching the Atlantic Ocean at Boston...
to Cambridge in 1930, and in 1937 took up residence in the stone mansion at One Follen Street, originally built in 1889 by railroad baron Edwin Hale Abbot
Edwin Hale Abbot
Edwin Hale Abbot was a lawyer and railroad executive, active in Boston and Milwaukee.Abbot was born in Beverly, Massachusetts, educated at Harvard University , and practiced law in Boston from 1862-1876. In 1873 Abbot was named general solicitor and a director of the Wisconsin Central Railway...
. During that time, the Longy School had a close relationship with Harvard and Radcliffe
Radcliffe College
Radcliffe College was a women's liberal arts college in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and was the coordinate college for Harvard University. It was also one of the Seven Sisters colleges. Radcliffe College conferred joint Harvard-Radcliffe diplomas beginning in 1963 and a formal merger agreement with...
Colleges. Many of Harvard’s most talented music students, including Elliott Carter
Elliott Carter
Elliott Cook Carter, Jr. is a two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning American composer born and living in New York City. He studied with Nadia Boulanger in Paris in the 1930s, and then returned to the United States. After a neoclassical phase, he went on to write atonal, rhythmically complex music...
and Daniel Pinkham
Daniel Pinkham
Daniel Rogers Pinkham, Jr. was an American composer, organist, and harpsichordist. Pinkham was one of America's most active composers during his lifetime...
crossed the Cambridge Common
Cambridge Common
Cambridge Common is a public park in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. It is located near Harvard Square and borders on several parts of Harvard University.-History:...
to study with Longy’s performance faculty. (See also the List of notable alumni). Between 1938 and 1944, the pedagogue and theoretician Nadia Boulanger
Nadia Boulanger
Nadia Boulanger was a French composer, conductor and teacher who taught many composers and performers of the 20th century.From a musical family, she achieved early honours as a student at the Paris Conservatoire, but believing that her talent as a composer was inferior to that of her younger...
taught advanced courses in harmony
Harmony
In music, harmony is the use of simultaneous pitches , or chords. The study of harmony involves chords and their construction and chord progressions and the principles of connection that govern them. Harmony is often said to refer to the "vertical" aspect of music, as distinguished from melodic...
, composition, and counterpoint
Counterpoint
In music, counterpoint is the relationship between two or more voices that are independent in contour and rhythm and are harmonically interdependent . It has been most commonly identified in classical music, developing strongly during the Renaissance and in much of the common practice period,...
at the Longy School and established a tradition of focus on music theory and composition that continues to characterize the school to the present day.
Recent leaders of the school include violinist Roman Totenberg
Roman Totenberg
Roman Totenberg is a Polish-American violinist and educator.He is the father of National Public Radio journalist Nina Totenberg...
, Director from 1978 to 1985, pianist Victor Rosenbaum, Director from 1985 to 2001, and Kwang-Wu Kim, President from 2001 to 2006. Rosenbaum's tenure as Director saw the establishment of the opera and modern American music departments as well as a growth in student numbers from 600 to 1,200, and in the annual budget from $600,000 to $3.5 million. The current President is Karen L. Zorn, who took up her post in 2007.
On April 1, 2010, the Boston Globe reported that the Longy School was in negotiations to become a graduate school of Bard College
Bard College
Bard College, founded in 1860 as "St. Stephen's College", is a small four-year liberal arts college located in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York.-Location:...
. If successful, the school would develop a Master's degree
Master's degree
A master's is an academic degree granted to individuals who have undergone study demonstrating a mastery or high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice...
in teaching and would include Bard College in its name. President Zorn began preliminary talks with Bard's president, Leon Botstein
Leon Botstein
Leon Botstein is an American conductor and the President of Bard College . Botstein is the music director and principal conductor of the American Symphony Orchestra and conductor laureate of the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, where he served as music director and principal conductor from 2003-2010...
in July 2009. At the same time, the faculty began a unionization drive, and in January 2010, there was a vote of 51 to 32 in favor of forming a union. Three months later, Longy announced a staff restructuring which resulted in 37 of its 188 teachers (all of whom are part-time) being laid off. In October, 2010, the General Counsel of the National Labor Relations Board
National Labor Relations Board
The National Labor Relations Board is an independent agency of the United States government charged with conducting elections for labor union representation and with investigating and remedying unfair labor practices. Unfair labor practices may involve union-related situations or instances of...
on behalf of the union issued a formal complaint against the Longy School for unfair labor practices. In a January 2011 interim injunction
Injunction
An injunction is an equitable remedy in the form of a court order that requires a party to do or refrain from doing certain acts. A party that fails to comply with an injunction faces criminal or civil penalties and may have to pay damages or accept sanctions...
, the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts
United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts
The United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts is the federal district court whose jurisdiction is the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, USA. The first court session was held in Boston in 1789. The second term was held in Salem in 1790 and until 1813 court session locations...
ruled that "there is reasonable cause to believe that Longy has committed an unfair labor practice". While acknowledging "Longy's prerogative to pursue faculty restructuring", Judge Patti B. Saris
Patti B. Saris
Patti B. Saris is a District Judge for the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts. She joined the court in 1993 after being nominated by President Bill Clinton. She is also Chair of the United States Sentencing Commission.-Early life and education:Saris was born in...
noted in her decision that "it did have a duty to bargain over the effects of this decision", and ordered it to do so. Longy was also ordered to reinstate terminated faculty members with pay until a final settlement was reached, but was not required to reverse job reassignments. Following negotiations between the union and the administration in February 2011, a settlement and collective bargaining agreement were reached, and the union officially requested withdrawal of all charges filed with the National Labor Relations Board.
On June 13, 2011, Leon Botstein for Bard College and Karen Zorn for the Longy School announced in a joint press release that the two institutions had formally merged and that the conservatory's new name was "Longy School of Music of Bard College". According to Bard College spokesperson Mark Primoff, although the merger took effect immediately, initially there would be "little substantial operational change." Both Primoff and Kimberlee Labonte, spokesperson for the Longy School confirmed that a graduate program in music teaching would likely be the first joint venture between the two schools with more joint programs becoming official as they were approved.
Facilities
The Rey-Waldstein Building
In 1998, the Longy School purchased a new building at 33 Garden Street to add further performance and practice space as well as classrooms and offices. The building is named in honor of Margaret Rey and H.A. Rey, the creators of Curious GeorgeCurious George
Curious George is the protagonist of a series of popular children's books by the same name, written by Hans Augusto Rey and Margret Rey. The books feature a curious brown monkey named George, who is brought from his home in Africa by "The Man with The Yellow Hat" to live with him in a big city.When...
and longtime supporters of Longy, and Margaret Rey’s parents, Felix and Gertrude Waldstein. In 2001 the Longy School received an award from the Cambridge Historical Society for the quality of its restoration. Further renovations to the building's previously unfinished basement in 2005 provided new space for a dedicated percussion studio, student lounge areas and further practice rooms.
Edward M. Pickman Concert Hall
The Edward M. Pickman Concert Hall, originally built in 1970, is the Longy School of Music's primary performance space. Named in honour of Edward M. Pickman, President of the Board of Trustees from 1955–1959, the 300-seat birch-lined hall provides a setting for masterclasses and both solo and chamber performances. The hall was designed by the Boston architectural firm, Huygens and Tappe (now Tappe Associates, Inc.). The completion of its major renovation in 1993 was marked with a concert that included the world premiere of Howard FrazinHoward Frazin
Howard Frazin is a composer based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He began his formal musical training at the New England Conservatory, and subsequently studied at the University of Minnesota with Dominick Argento...
's Amid a Crowd of Stars. Over 250 concerts now take place in Pickman hall each year, many of which are free and open to the public. The Pacifica Quartet
Pacifica Quartet
The Pacifica Quartet is an internationally recognized string quartet based in Urbana-Champaign, Illinois, where they are faculty members at the University of Illinois. Its members are: Simin Ganatra, first violin; Sibbi Bernhardsson, second violin; Masumi Per Rostad, viola; and Brandon Vamos,...
, Longy School's artists-in-residence, perform four chamber concerts per year in the hall as well as giving master classes in chamber music performance.
Programs of study
The Longy School conservatory offers two four-year undergraduate programs: Undergraduate Diploma, and Bachelor of Music Degree (the latter in conjunction with Emerson CollegeEmerson College
Emerson College is a private coeducational university located in Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1880 by Charles Wesley Emerson as a "school of oratory," Emerson is "the only comprehensive college or university in America dedicated exclusively to communication and the arts in a liberal arts...
). At graduate level the School offers three two-year programs: Master of Music Degree, Graduate Performance Diploma, and Artist Diploma (for exceptionally gifted performers).
The following majors are available at both undergraduate and graduate level:
- CompositionMusical compositionMusical composition can refer to an original piece of music, the structure of a musical piece, or the process of creating a new piece of music. People who practice composition are called composers.- Musical compositions :...
- OrganOrgan (music)The organ , is a keyboard instrument of one or more divisions, each played with its own keyboard operated either with the hands or with the feet. The organ is a relatively old musical instrument in the Western musical tradition, dating from the time of Ctesibius of Alexandria who is credited with...
- PianoPianoThe piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
- StringsString instrumentA string instrument is a musical instrument that produces sound by means of vibrating strings. In the Hornbostel-Sachs scheme of musical instrument classification, used in organology, they are called chordophones...
- VoiceVoiceVoice may refer to:* Human voice* Voice control or voice activation* Writer's voice* Voice acting* Voice vote* Voice message-In film:* Voice , a 2005 South Korean film* The Voice , a 2010 Turkish horror film directed by Ümit Ünal...
- Woodwinds and BrassBrass instrumentA brass instrument is a musical instrument whose sound is produced by sympathetic vibration of air in a tubular resonator in sympathy with the vibration of the player's lips...
The graduate level offers additional majors in:
- Collaborative pianoAccompanimentIn music, accompaniment is the art of playing along with an instrumental or vocal soloist or ensemble, often known as the lead, in a supporting manner...
- Dalcroze Eurhythmics
- Early MusicEarly musicEarly music is generally understood as comprising all music from the earliest times up to the Renaissance. However, today this term has come to include "any music for which a historically appropriate style of performance must be reconstructed on the basis of surviving scores, treatises,...
- ModernContemporary classical musicContemporary classical music can be understood as belonging to the period that started in the mid-1970s with the retreat of modernism. However, the term may also be employed in a broader sense to refer to all post-1945 modern musical forms.-Categorization:...
American Music - OperaOperaOpera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
- Chamber musicChamber musicChamber music is a form of classical music, written for a small group of instruments which traditionally could be accommodated in a palace chamber. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small number of performers with one performer to a part...
Notable alumni of the Longy School of Music
Notable former students and alumni of the Longy School of Music include:- Elliott CarterElliott CarterElliott Cook Carter, Jr. is a two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning American composer born and living in New York City. He studied with Nadia Boulanger in Paris in the 1930s, and then returned to the United States. After a neoclassical phase, he went on to write atonal, rhythmically complex music...
(composer) - Schuyler ChapinSchuyler ChapinSchuyler Garrison Chapin was an Assistant General Manager of the Metropolitan Opera and Commissioner of Cultural Affairs for New York City during the administration of Mayor Rudolph Giuliani...
(former General Manager New York Metropolitan OperaMetropolitan OperaThe Metropolitan Opera is an opera company, located in New York City. Originally founded in 1880, the company gave its first performance on October 22, 1883. The company is operated by the non-profit Metropolitan Opera Association, with Peter Gelb as general manager...
, Dean of Columbia University School of the ArtsColumbia UniversityColumbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
) - Alexandra du BoisAlexandra du BoisAlexandra du Bois is an American composer and violinist living in New York.-Biography:Born in Virginia Beach, Virginia in 1981, du Bois later moved to rural, south-eastern Virginia with her parents at the age thirteen...
(composer) - Ralph FarrisRalph FarrisRalph Farris is an American violist, violinist, composer, arranger, producer and conductor. He specializes in new music and is a founding member of the string quartet ETHEL....
(violist, violinist, composer, and conductor) - Anton KuertiAnton KuertiAnton Kuerti, OC is an Austrian-born Canadian pianist, music teacher, composer, and conductor. Since his performance of the Grieg Piano Concerto with the Boston Pops Orchestra at age 11, he has developed international recognition as a solo pianist, particularly focusing on the works of Beethoven...
(pianist, music teacher and composer) - Noël LeeNoël LeeNoël Lee is an American classical pianist and composer living in Paris, France.He studied music in Lafayette, Indiana, then attended Harvard University, studying with Walter Piston, Irving Fine, and Tillman Merritt and was also a student at the Longy School of Music in the early 1940s...
(pianist) - Dmitri NabokovDmitri NabokovDmitri Vladimirovich Nabokov is an American opera singer and translator. He is the only child of writer Vladimir Nabokov and his wife Vera Nabokov, and is currently executor of his father's literary estate.-Background:...
(opera singer and translator) - Jean Papineau-CoutureJean Papineau-CoutureJean Papineau-Couture, was a Canadian composer and academic.Born in Montreal, Papineau-Couture is the grandson of conductor and composer Guillaume Couture. As a child he studied piano with his mother...
(composer) - Daniel PinkhamDaniel PinkhamDaniel Rogers Pinkham, Jr. was an American composer, organist, and harpsichordist. Pinkham was one of America's most active composers during his lifetime...
(composer, organist, and harpsichordist) - Greg SandowGreg SandowGreg Sandow is an American music critic and composer. He is a graduate of Harvard University, with a bachelor's degree in government, and of Yale University, with a master's degree in composition....
(music critic, composer)
Notable teachers at the Longy School of Music
Notable faculty at Longy include:- Kenneth AmisKenneth AmisKenneth Amis is the tuba player with the Empire Brass. He is also the assistant conductor of the MIT Wind Ensemble, a group he has been involved with since its creation in 1999. In addition, as of 2005, Amis is an Affiliated Artist of MIT....
(tuba player) - Phoebe CarraiPhoebe CarraiPhoebe Carrai is an American cellist.She studied at The New England Conservatory of Music in Boston where she earned both her Bachelor and Master of Music degrees...
(baroque cellist) - Jonathan CohlerJonathan CohlerJonathan Cohler is an American clarinetist, conductor and teacher.-Education:Cohler received a bachelor's degree in physics from Harvard University in 1980....
(clarinetist, conductor, chamber music coach) - Randall HodgkinsonRandall HodgkinsonRandall Hodgkinson is an American pianist. He won the International American Music Competition which was sponsored by Carnegie Hall and the Rockefeller Foundation...
(pianist) - Isaiah JacksonIsaiah JacksonIsaiah Allen Jackson is an African American conductor of world renown. He has recently concluded a seven year term as conductor of the Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra of Boston, of which he has been named Conductor Emeritus...
(conductor) - Thomas MeglioranzaThomas MeglioranzaThomas Meglioranza is an American operatic baritone.Meglioranza was born to an American father of Italian-Polish descent and a Thai mother. Meglioranza grew up in the northern New Jersey towns of Teaneck and Wayne. He began taking voice lessons at Grinnell College, and earned a MM from the Eastman...
(baritone) - John Howell MorrisonJohn Howell Morrison (composer)John Howell Morrison is a contemporary classical composer and educator. His works have been commissioned and performed by the Intergalactic Contemporary Ensemble, Minnesota Contemporary Ensemble, and Galhano/Montgomery Duo, among others. His recording, Hard Weather Makes Good Wood, was released on...
(composer) - Pacifica QuartetPacifica QuartetThe Pacifica Quartet is an internationally recognized string quartet based in Urbana-Champaign, Illinois, where they are faculty members at the University of Illinois. Its members are: Simin Ganatra, first violin; Sibbi Bernhardsson, second violin; Masumi Per Rostad, viola; and Brandon Vamos,...
(Visiting Artists in Chamber Music) - Kenneth RadnofskyKenneth RadnofskyKenneth A. Radnofsky is an American classical saxophonist. He is currently teaching at the New England Conservatory of Music, the Boston Conservatory, the Longy School of Music, and Boston University...
(classical saxophonist) - Peter SerkinPeter Serkin-Biography:He was born in New York City and is the son of pianist Rudolf Serkin, and grandson of the influential violinist Adolf Busch, whose daughter Irene had married Rudolf Serkin...
(pianist) - Jayne WestJayne WestJayne West is an American operatic soprano, who was born in White Plains, New York, and was raised in Framingham, Massachusetts. After graduation from Oberlin College, she moved to Boston, where she studied at the Boston Conservatory....
(soprano)
Past faculty have included:
- Olga AverinoOlga AverinoOlga Averino was a Russian soprano and voice teacher. An émigré to the United States, she was prominent in the musical life of Boston for over 60 years, first as a singer and later as a distinguished voice teacher....
(soprano and vocal pedagogue) - Charlie BanacosCharlie BanacosCharlie Banacos was an American pianist, composer, author and educator, concentrating on jazz.Banacos created over 100 courses of study for improvisation and composition. His concepts of teaching and his courses influenced educators since the late 1950s...
(jazz and improvisation) - E. Power BiggsE. Power BiggsEdward George Power Biggs , more familiarly known as E. Power Biggs, was a British-born American concert organist and recording artist.-Biography:...
(organist) - Nadia BoulangerNadia BoulangerNadia Boulanger was a French composer, conductor and teacher who taught many composers and performers of the 20th century.From a musical family, she achieved early honours as a student at the Paris Conservatoire, but believing that her talent as a composer was inferior to that of her younger...
(composer, conductor, and music theorist) - Sarah CaldwellSarah CaldwellSarah Caldwell was a notable American opera conductor, impresario, and stage director of opera.- Life :Caldwell was born in Maryville, Missouri, and grew up in Fayetteville, Arkansas. She was a child prodigy and gave public performances on the violin by the time she was ten years old...
(conductor and opera company director) - John Ernest CookJohn Cook (musician)John Ernest Cook was an Anglo-American organist, composer and church musician.-Early life, education and early career:...
(composer and organist) - Edward Downes (musicologist and critic)
- Walter PistonWalter PistonWalter Hamor Piston Jr., , was an American composer of classical music, music theorist and professor of music at Harvard University whose students included Leroy Anderson, Leonard Bernstein, and Elliott Carter....
(composer and music theorist) - Eric RosenblithEric RosenblithEric Rosenblith, is an Austrian-born American violinist. He is the former concertmaster of the Indianapolis and San Antonio Symphony Orchestras, and has performed as a soloist and chamber musician throughout North America, Europe, and Asia...
(violinist) - Roman TotenbergRoman TotenbergRoman Totenberg is a Polish-American violinist and educator.He is the father of National Public Radio journalist Nina Totenberg...
(violinist)