Just don’t expect to hear music.

At least, that’s how it used to be, back in the day.  James DePreist W’58, nephew of famed Metropolitan Opera singer and Philadelphia native Marian Anderson, received his degree from the Wharton School before going on to become one of America’s most influential music directors—impressive, if perhaps not your typical post-Wharton trajectory. Over the past 40 years, DePreist has served as guest conductor for every major North American symphony, as well as orchestras throughout Europe and Asia. Currently, he is the conductor laureate of the Oregon Symphony and the permanent conductor of the Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra.

During his undergraduate years at Penn, DePreist found little in the way of encouragement from within the music department. “Stodgy would not be an inappropriate word for the department at the time,” chuckles DePreist in a telephone interview from Manhattan, where he serves as the director of conducting and orchestral studies at the Juilliard School.

DePreist used his entrepreneurial bent to organize student-run concerts. “This was the mid-fifties, the heyday of really great jazz in Philadelphia, and I ran afoul of the department for organizing eclectic student-run concerts that included a mix of genres—string quartets, jazz combos, piano soloists, big bands. There were no barriers for us students, but a concern was expressed that what I was doing was, ah, perhaps not appropriately representative of the music department.”

For some, Penn’s focus on academics would prove congenial. So it was with music historian Robert Kendrick C’82, chairman of the music department at the University of Chicago. Kendrick arrived at Penn expecting to double major in German and Spanish. But when he signed up for a freshman-year introductory music theory course taught by composition grad student Jay Reise G’75, now Penn’s Robert Weiss Professor of Music and a prominent composer, he was hooked on music history and theory, and hasn’t looked back since.

“The great thing about Penn,” says Kendrick, “was the incredible academic training.” As for practical music studies, the department left you on your own, to seek instruction elsewhere. Typical of Penn music students at the time, Kendrick hoofed it to 30th Street Station once a week, and took the Paoli Local to piano lessons with Joseph Barone at the Bryn Mawr Conservatory of Music, practicing his keyboard skills in isolation.

As recently as a decade ago, the situation for student performers hadn’t changed much. Christopher Amos C’98 transferred to Penn after a few semesters as a piano performance major at Temple University’s Esther Boyer College of Music. “I realized that I wanted a broader, liberal arts education, and felt lucky to have Penn and its world-class musicology faculty right in my backyard,” says Amos, now assistant director of education and community partnerships for the Philadelphia Orchestra. During his undergraduate years at Penn, Amos participated in the University Choir and  played chamber music informally with friends, but, like those before him, his prospects for making music among peers were limited.

It might seem paradoxical that the institution that produced some of the most eminent and celebrated musical minds of the late-20th and early-21st century—including award-winning composers like Jennifer Higdon G’92 Gr’94 [see story on page 38], Melinda Wagner Gr’86, and Osvaldo Golijov Gr’91—did so in near silence. But Penn’s music department has never had a performance faculty. Yes, there are a few quasi-departmental early music groups on campus, but these have always had a role at Penn because they are scholarly ensembles that draw historians and other specialists.

In days gone by, when it came to fine arts, Penn traditionally leaned away from praxis and towards scholarship. As the argument went, there was no point in diluting the University’s academic mission by duplicating the offerings of other nearby institutions. Which seems perfectly reasonable: Philadelphia already boasts several prominent music conservatories, the most celebrated of which, the world-renowned Curtis Institute, sits on Locust Street just off Rittenhouse Square a brisk half-hour walk across the Schuylkill. In fact, Penn has a long-standing relationship with Curtis, facilitating regular readings and performances by Curtis students of works by Penn composers.

A healthy number of distinguished performing artists have been educated here at Penn, among them soprano Galina Sakhovskaya C’00 EAS’00 and flutist Mimi Stillman, who is currently a doctoral candidate in the history department. But these artists attended Penn for academics only and received their musical training elsewhere. As for the composers in Penn’s small but illustrious graduate program, they arrive already well-versed in the performance aspects of their craft. Many, such as current students Matt Barnson (BM, Eastman) and David Ludwig (BM, Oberlin; MM Manhattan School) boast conservatory diplomas. Ludwig, who has also done post-graduate work at Curtis and Juilliard, serves on the faculty of the Curtis Institute while he simultaneously pursues his Ph.D. in composition at Penn. Clearly, there is not much Penn could or should offer such a distinguished crowd in terms of piano lessons.

 

But what about the rest of the University? The future doctors, lawyers, and scholars, many of whom have studied and loved music since early childhood? Does coming to Penn effectively truncate their musical lives?

Not any more, thanks in large part to the concerted—pardon the pun—efforts of former Interim Provost Peter Conn, a dedicated group of undergraduates, and a couple of visionary music professors. Conn, who also serves as the Andrea Mitchell Professor of English, has long been a proponent of the idea that there should be more to a liberal arts education than a diet of undiluted scholarship. “I personally believe that the arts are an indispensable component of a complete educational experience,” he said during an interview this past spring in his College Hall office. “We want to move all of the arts, including music, as much as possible into the foreground, to connect cultural and arts experiences with academic experiences.”

Penn’s innovative new College House Music Program now complements the department’s core academic mission by providing performance opportunities with optional course credit, not only for majors, but for interested students at all levels of proficiency, including beginners. Duos, trios, quartets, and quintets now rehearse in spaces throughout the University under the supervision of Director of Chamber Music David Yang C’89 GAr’92 [“Alumni Profiles,” May/June 2004].

The menu includes not only Western classical music, but also world music and no-longer-outlawed jazz. Meanwhile, a simultaneous revision of the music department’s major has created two rigorous applied music courses designed for highly experienced players: Music 10 (subsidized private instruction) and Music 11 (ensemble).

“This program allows students who have chosen not to go to a conservatory to have the opportunity to continue playing and learning with conservatory-level teachers,” says Music 11 student Alyssa Rubinstein C’05. An anthropology major with a concentration in human biology, Rubinstein was an accomplished violinist with conservatory potential when she decided to attend Penn as a pre-med. “When you choose a school like Penn over a conservatory, you gain a fabulous education and experiences, but you stand to lose performance opportunities and quality coachings. The chamber music program bridges the gap between Penn and the music world.”

Meanwhile, in September 2003, with the help of faculty master and composer Jay Reise, Hamilton College House established Penn’s first-ever “Music Performance and Composition Floor.”  The music floor features plenty of common space for composition and collaboration, and students are given access to computers with midi keyboards and the latest composition software. Each semester, the floor presents a recital featuring a diverse mix of works performed—and often written—by its residents.

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