1855 |
Music instruction starts at Northwestern Female College, which is later incorporated into the Evanston College for Ladies and eventually becomes the Woman's College of Northwestern University. |
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1871 |
Cornerstone is laid on July 4 for the Evanston College for Ladies (Woman's College of Northwestern University), now the Music Administration Building. |
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1873 |
Music Department incorporates into Northwestern University, housed on the fourth floor of Woman's Hall (now the Music Administration Building). Instruction offered in organ, piano, voice, and orchestral instruments. |
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1880 |
Orchestral course expands to include band instruments. |
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1891 |
Peter Christian Lutkin becomes director of music department. |
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1895 |
School of Music becomes a distinct school within the University, offering two courses of study: two-year program for teachers and four-year program for performers. |
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1897 |
Old Music Hall (now Human Resources) is built as new home for School of Music. |
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1902 |
Students Charles John Haake and Winifred Hull are the school's first graduates. |
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1904 |
Beta chapter of Sigma Alpha Iota music sorority is formed at Northwestern. |
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1905 |
One-year music education major is instituted. |
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1906 |
A Cappella Choir is founded, one of the first in the United States. |
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1909 |
Carl Beecher, later the School of Music's second dean, is awarded first bachelor's degree in music.
Lutkin founds North Shore Music Festival.
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1910 |
Iota chapter of Phi Mu Alpha music fraternity forms at Northwestern. |
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1911 |
First University-supported band performs at football games. |
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1915 |
Music Practice Building ("Beehive") is built and equipped with unique soundproof doors. |
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1916 |
The school's second bachelor degree in music is awarded to composer Howard Hanson, later director of the Eastman School of Music. |
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1917 |
Graduate music program is instituted. |
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1918 |
National music honor society Pi Kappa Lambda is founded at Northwestern; name comprises Greek equivalents of the initials of Peter Christian Lutkin. |
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1920 |
First two master of music degrees are awarded to Carl Beecher and Mark Ernest Wessel. |
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1922 |
School of Music adds courses in public school and community
music, which lead to the degrees Graduate in School Music
and Bachelor of Music Education (5-year program).
Symphony Orchestra becomes "the Evanston Symphony Orchestra under the auspices of Northwestern University." Members include Northwestern University students and players from the community.
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1924 |
Separate graduate division is established with composer and pianist Arne Oldberg as director. |
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1925 |
University hires firm of Granger, Lowe, and Bollenbacher to move Beehive to its present location.
Howard Hanson awarded honorary doctor of music degree.
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1926 |
University band becomes part of School of Music under the direction of Glenn Cliffe Bainum. |
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1928 |
Carl Beecher is named Lutkin's successor as "administrative director," using title of dean after Lutkin's death in 1931. |
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1933 |
Northwestern hosts Choral Music Institute in conjunction with convention of National Association of Choir Directors. |
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1935 |
School inaugurates education program directed by Traugott Rohner to give children private lessons on band and orchestral instruments, using advanced School of Music students as instructors. |
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1936-37 |
A Cappella Choir performs at Orchestra Hall in Chicago and Carnegie Hall in New York. |
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1937 |
John W. Beattie is appointed third dean. |
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1940 |
Willard Hall, a women's residence (formerly the Woman's College) is remodeled and renamed the Music Administration Building (MAB), housing the music library, all offices and classrooms, and some teachers' studios. |
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1941 |
Cornerstone for Lutkin Hall is laid June 12. |
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1946 |
Opera Workshop forms. |
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1949 |
School of Music awards honorary degrees to violinist Jascha Heifetz, cellist Gregor Piatigorsky, pianist Artur Rubinstein. |
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1949-50 |
Chamber music program is founded. |
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1951 |
George Howerton, a faculty member for 20 years and 1950 recipient of a doctor of philosophy degree from the school, is named fourth dean. |
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1952 |
John P. Paynter is appointed director of bands. |
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1952-53 |
Fine Arts Quartet of Chicago (violinists Leonard Sorkin and Joseph Stepansky, violist Sheppard Lehnhoff and cellist George Sopkin) are in residence at Northwestern. |
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1953 |
School establishes a doctor of music degree, offered in performance (organ, piano, violin, and voice), composition and church music. |
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1955 |
Soprano Lotte Lehman presents six lecture-demonstrations in first of her many campus visits. |
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1957 |
Boris Goldovsky, commentator for Metropolitan Opera's intermission feature "Opera News on the Air" and head of the opera department of Tanglewood's Berkshire Music Center, produces Le nozze di Figaro with the Opera Workshop. The production incorporates new techniques in acting and stage design, including use of fiberglass and aluminum in place of conventional canvas and wood. |
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1958 |
Composer Aaron Copland visits in February and delivers lectures on contemporary music, conducts a performance of his opera The Tender Land, and meets with students and faculty members. |
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1959 |
Jazz course is added to roster of course offerings. |
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1960s |
Contemporary Music Ensemble is founded to perform 20th-century music, particularly electronic and avant-garde works and pieces using new notation systems. |
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1961 |
Master of Sacred Music degree is offered jointly with Garrett Theological Seminary. |
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1966 |
The Northwestern University Saxophone Quartet, directed by Frederick Hemke, tours 11 Far Eastern countries for the U.S. State Department. |
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1967 |
Italian composer-conductor Luciano Berio visits campus. |
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1968 |
Opera Workshop and the 80-member Northwestern University Symphony Orchestra are featured in national telecasts of Verdi's Falstaff on Chicago's WTTW and other stations. |
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1970 |
Saxophone is approved as an instrumental major. |
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1971 |
Thomas Miller becomes fifth dean.
Music Library acquires the Moldenhauer collection of musical manuscripts, gathered in Europe by Hans Moldenhauer. Boris Goldovsky, director of the New England Opera Company, and Sherrill Milnes, Metropolitan Opera leading baritone and former Northwestern student, present special recital in recognition of the acquisition.
Northwestern hosts the 1971 festival of the American Liszt Society.
Electronic Music Studio is established with assistant professor of compositon Stephen Syverud as director.
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1972 |
Women are accepted into Marching Band for the first time.
Jazz Workshop enters the curriculum.
School of Music forms partnership with Ravinia Festival to offer joint master classes and courses.
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1973 |
Northwestern hosts a national forum, cosponsored by Contemporary Music Project and the Center for the Teaching Professions, on the graduate education of the college music teacher.
Northwestern awards Soviet composer Dmitri Shostakovich an honorary doctorate of fine arts.
The Music Library moves from its home in MAB to 1810 Hinman Ave.
The first NUMBalums (Northwestern University Marching Band Alumni) reunion and march is held at Homecoming.
The Music Alumni Association is formed.
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1974 |
Michael Tippett visits Northwestern for February 22 American premiere of his opera The Knot Garden, directed by Robert Gay and conducted by Bernard Rubenstein.
School awards Witold Lutoslawski an honorary doctorate of fine arts in June.
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1975 |
John Cage spends three days in residence at Northwestern in conjunction with his gift to the Music Library of manuscripts by 277 twentieth-century composers.
The Bachelor of Arts in Music degree is established.
The 1,003-seat Pick-Staiger Concert Hall opens.
Construction for Regenstein Hall of Music begins.
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1976 |
The Music Library moves from 1810 Hinman to present home on second floor of Deering Library.
Northwestern's first Computer Music Studio is established at Vogelback Computing Center.
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1977 |
Carlo Maria Giulini conducts the Chicago Symphony Orchestra before a standing-room-only audience at Pick-Staiger.
Regenstein Hall of Music, housing the band department, practice rooms, and wind and percussion faculty studios, is dedicated in November. The School of Music vacates Music Hall.
Madame Serge Prokofiev meets with students in a discussion moderated by Arrand Parsons during her December trip to attend her husband's opera The Love for Three Oranges at Lyric Opera of Chicago.
Thomas Willis leaves the Chicago Tribune after 20 years to
become Pick-Staiger's first concert hall director.
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1978 |
Olivier Messiaen visits School of Music for series of events honoring his 70th birthday.
The Northwestern University Chamber Orchestra is selected as one of 14 college ensembles featured in a new National Public Radio series, Campus Musica.
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1979 |
Cleveland Orchestra, conducted by Lorin Maazel, performs in Pick-Staiger.
Northwestern hosts Sixth World Saxophone Congress, coordinated by Frederick Hemke.
Northwestern Opera Workshop's 1977 television production of Hansel and Gretel, directed by Robert Gay and produced in conjunction with WTTW, is broadcast nationally by PBS.
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1980 |
A joint Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Music degree program is established with College of Arts and Sciences.
A dozen musical events at Northwestern are videotaped and broadcast on cable TV in suburban Chicago and New York.
Guitar is approved as an instrumental major.
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1982 |
A joint Bachelor of Science in engineering and Bachelor of Music degree program is established. |
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1983 |
Symphonic Wind Ensemble tours the East Coast, with performances in New York, Washington, and Boston. |
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1984 |
Victor Yampolsky is named director of the Symphony Orchestra.
Certificate in Performance program is inaugurated.
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1985 |
Philip Glass and his ensemble present a lecture and concert. |
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1986 |
The Ganelin Trio, the first Soviet jazz group ever to perform in the U.S., appears at Pick-Staiger as part of a 15-city summer tour.
Northwestern hosts the International Conference on Music Bibliography.
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1986-87 |
The Music Library acquires four significant collections: the holographs of former Chicago Symphony Orchestra music director Jean Martinon, composition manuscripts of Benjamin Johnston, 16 cartons of Fritz Reiner's correspondence, and 235 reels of taped Cleveland Orchestra performances. |
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1987 |
Italian composer-conductor Luciano Berio visits campus. |
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1988 |
The Jazz Ensemble tours the east coast, performing in New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington.
Composer Milton Babbitt is awarded an honorary doctorate at commencement and addresses graduates at the music school convocation.
Nine Northwestern students and alumni are selected for the first-ever American-Soviet Youth Orchestra. After an August 5 debut under Zubin Mehta at the Kennedy Center, the group embarks on a six-week tour of the two countries.
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1989 |
Five interdisciplinary undergraduate certificate programs are implemented.
Bernard J. Dobroski, an alumnus and former faculty member and assistant dean, becomes sixth dean.
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1990 |
Continuing its tradition of community outreach, the School of Music launches Kids Fare, a series of Saturday morning children's concerts.
Marilyn Horne performs with the Symphony Orchestra in a concert culminating the Alumnae of Northwestern's 75th anniversary celebration.
Northwestern hosts the annual convention of the National Opera Association.
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1991 |
Music Theatre certificate program is jointly inaugurated by the School of Music and School of Communication. |
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1992 |
Composer John Cage attends a weeklong celebration of his 80th birthday.
James Levine, artistic director and principal conductor of the Metropolitan Opera and longtime music director of the Ravinia Festival, is awarded an honorary degree at commencement.
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1993 |
Northwestern hosts the International Viola Congress, directed by Peter Slowik.
Music technology becomes an undergraduate and graduate degree program.
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1994 |
Pianist Ursula Oppens and singers William Warfield and Mignon Dunn join the faculty.
The School of Music establishes an exchange program with Australia's Queensland Conservatorium of Music.
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1995 |
Philharmonia, an orchestra for non-music majors, is established.
The school's first electronic classroom, complete with a projection system for both conventional videos and computer screens, opens in MAB.
School of Music begins celebrating its centennial in the fall with concerts, a visit by composer-conductor Gunther Schuller and an NU-Day program.
Northwestern hosts the International Tuba-Euphonium Conference.
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1996 |
Continuing its centennial celebration, the school presents a Centennial Gala in Chicago's Orchestra Hall and a Birthday Bash in Pick-Staiger.
Evelyn Dunbar Memorial Early Music Festival debuts in April.
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1997 |
First annual Winter Chamber Music Festival. |
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2000 |
School partners with Carnegie Hall on education program "Link-up!" |
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2002 |
A five-year, double degree program in music and journalism debuts. |
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2003 |
Toni-Marie Montgomery becomes seventh dean.
Michael Ludwig Nemmers Prize in Music Composition is established.
New music listening center and computer lab opens in Deering Library.
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2004 |
John Adams is named inaugural winner of the Michael Ludwig Nemmers Prize
in Music Composition.
Annual instrumental spring festival
debuts.
International Conference on
Music Perception and Cognition hosted by School of Music.
A school-produced ten-week radio series heard on WFMT-FM.
Northwestern hosts the Society for Seventeenth Century Music conference.
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2005 |
School of Music is invited to participate in the Conservatory Project
of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Four
students perform on the Millenium Stage.
The Jean Gimbel Lane Prize in Piano Performance is established.
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2006 |
Richard Goode is named inaugural winner of the Jean Gimbel
Lane Prize in Piano Performance.
Senior Paul Corona, bass, is named a Grand Winner in the Metropolitan
Opera National Council Auditions. |
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2007 |
Soprano and alumna Nancy Gustafson joins the faculty.
School of Music
announces acollaboration with Shure Microphones whereby students will
perform and record at the company’s facilities,
using the latest microphone technologies.
School of Music hosts
the second annual conference of the International Society for
Improvised Music.
Jazz artist Victor Goines is named director of the
Jazz Studies program.
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2008 |
Stephen Hough is named 2008 winner of the Lane Prize in Piano Performance.
Soprano
Rene Fleming gives a master class to a sold out Pick-Staiger
audience.
The School hosts the simulcast of the Richard Tucker Gala,
live from New York City, and offers eight other web broadcasts
of concerts and master classes.
Jay Lesenger, opera director, and percussionist
She-e Wu are named to the faculty.
The University announces
it will construct a new state-of-the-art building for the School of
Music on the lakefront, replacing the antiquated Music Administration
Building.
The School of Music is named for retiring NU President
Henry Bienen and his wife Leigh through the generosity of the Board
of Trustees and friends.
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