Historical Timeline

1980

Claude Cymerman appointed full-time tenure faculty member.

1981

Vergene N. Miller appointed as a full-time Assistant Professor. Retires in 2006 as Professor Emerita of Music.

The DePauw Chamber Symphony performs at Carnegie Recital Hall.

1982

David Lee Ott, resident composer and Professor of Composition and Theory, and John C. and Lillian W. Siegesmund Professor of Music, joins faculty. Retires in 1996.

Violinist Dan Rizner appointed full-time tenure faculty member.

1983

The DePauw Chamber Symphony performs 11 concerts, including newly-composed works by Austrian composers, during a 13-day tour completely funded by Jeunesse Musicale, an arts agency of the Austrian government.

1984

A repeat performance of the first recital in School of Music history, a program of piano works performed by Dean Howe in 1884, is given by piano professors Glen Sherman, Claude Cymerman, and Lorna Griffitt in celebration of the School of Music’s centennial.

1985

Cleveland T. Johnson, Professor of Music History, is the first musicologist to receive appointment; he also is appointed full-time tenure faculty member.

Cleveland T. Johnson, Professor of Music History, was the first musicologist to receive appointment. In 2006, Dr. Johnson was appointed Interim Dean until June of 2007.

During his time at DePauw, Dr. Johnson created "Virtual Vienna," one of the very first web-based music courses in the nation. It was developed by Johnson in the first year of a pilot progrm with DePauw's FITS (Faculty Instructional Technology Services) staff. The course was designed specifically to prepare School of Music students for their semester abroad in Vienna, taking advantage of the growing number of web resources at the time, including maps, online newspapers, concert schedules, etc. A unique feature of the course, central to Johnson's pedagogical philosophy, was that significant course content was researched, written, designed and posted on the class site by the students themselves. By the end of each semester, the Virtual Vienna website was an extensive content-rich look at historic and modern Vienna that students could later consult when resident in the city. The course was presented at numerous conferences on instructional technology as a model of the promise held by web-based teaching.

Gregory Dugan, bassist in the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, joins faculty.

1986

DePauw School of Music faculty members Stanley Irwin, bass-baritone, and Claude Cymerman, piano, perform Schubert song cycle Die schöne Müllerin in Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall.

1987

John D. Vander Weg succeeds Grubb as director until 1991.

Concert performed in honor of the 150th anniversary of the university.

The DePauw Symphony Orchestra and the DePauw Concert and Festival Choirs, under the respective direction of Orcenith G. Smith and Stanley Irwin, performed a program in honor of the 150th anniversary of the university during Old Gold Weekend. The program included a commissioned work by DePauw graduate Paul Whear ’47, and performances by renowned lyric soprano Pam Coburn ’74 and guest conductor Joseph Flummerfelt ’58.

1988

Pianist John Browning, son of DePauw graduate John Sapp, performs on November 1.

Organist Carla Edward joins faculty and is appointed full-time tenure faculty member.

Cellist Eric Edberg joins faculty and is appointed full-time tenure faculty member.

1989

Conductor Sir David Willcocks visits DePauw as guest conductor and lecturer. Under Willcocks’s direction the University Choirs and University Orchestra performed Haydn’s “Imperial” Mass in D minor and Vaughan Williams’s “Serenade to Music.”

Harpist Harriet Moore joins faculty.

1990

DePauw’s Century Singers perform at the White House.

Juilliard-trained pianist Patricia Collins Jones appointed dean. Stays at DePauw until 2001.

1991

Musicologist Matthew C. Balensuela joins staff.

1992

Craig T. Paré, Percussionist and Director of Bands, joins faculty.

1993

DePauw School of Music faculty members Stanley Irwin, bass-baritone, and Claude Cymerman, piano, perform the New York premiere of David Ott’s song cycle Renascence in Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall.

C. Matthew Balensuela appointed full-time tenure faculty member.

Craig T. Paré appointed full-time tenure faculty member.

Caroline Bradley Smith, mezzo-soprano and Director of Vocal Area and Professor of Voice, joins faculty and is appointed full-time tenure faculty member.

1996

Caroline Jetton appointed full-time tenure faculty member.

1999

Tafelmusik, the renowned baroque chamber orchestra, plays at DePauw.

The DePauw University Orchestra tours Japan.

2002

Pianist Frederic Chiu performs with the Budapest Strings at DePauw on November 7.

Percussionist Amy Lynn Barber appointed Dean and full-time tenure faculty member; the Percussion Plus Project moves from Vienna to DePauw as an ensemble-in-residence.

Percussionist Amy Lynn Barber was appointed Dean in 2002 and resigned from deanship in 2006. Dr. Barber was Professor of Percussion at the Prague Conservatory for five years and a member of the Slovenian Philharmonic before her appointment as Dean of the School of Music.

The Percussion Plus Project, a unique contemporary chamber music ensemble which focuses on an unusual repertoire that is little-known to general audiences, moved from Vienna to DePauw as an ensemble-in-residence. Founded in 1993 in Prague by Amy Lynn Barber, the ensemble had its own successful concert series for several years in Prague, and later in Ljubljana, Slovenia. During 1998-2002, it was based in Vienna, Austria. Their programs consist of works for percussion—ranging from one to many players—and another solo instrument. No other ensemble devotes itself solely to this repertoire.

Trumpet professor Leonard Foy appointed full-time tenure faculty member.

Theory and musicianship professor Scott Spiegelberg appointed full-time tenure faculty member.

2003

Virtuoso saxophonist Eugene Rousseau performs with The Percussion Plus Project in October 2003. Rousseau also taught a master class on woodwinds.

2005

DePauw graduate Pamela Coburn '74 joins faculty.

In 2005, internationally-acclaimed soprano and 1974 DePauw graduate Pamela Coburn joined the faculty as the inaugural James B. Stewart ('73) Distinguished Professor of Music. "I feel that I have come full circle," Coburn said. "DePauw has given me so much and provided the basis of the vocal technique that held me through my entire career. Now as a professor, I have a chance to give back what I have been given."

Augusta Read Thomas is composer-in-residence for Music of the 21st Century.

2006

Dr. Cleveland Johnson appointed Dean until summer of 2007.

Jake Heggie is composer-in-residence for Music of the 21st Century

2007

The DePauw Percussion Ensemble tours central Europe in January, performing in Croatia during the International Percussion Ensemble Week, and also in Slovenia, Austria, the Czech Republic, and Germany.

Internationally-renowned pianist and scholar Charles Rosen gives a lecture and a recital in Thompson Recital Hall on April 15.

The School of Music moves into the Judson and Joyce Green Center for Performing Arts.

In November 2005, the University announced a major leadership commitment from Judson C. Green Jr. ’74 and Joyce Taglauer Green ’75 to support a $29 million expansion and renovation of the Performing Arts Center. The Judson and Joyce Green Center for the Performing Arts provides 80,000 square feet of new space, including a 20,000 sq. ft. addition which provides the School of Music with new faculty offices that double as teaching studios, practice rooms and rehearsal spaces, additional classroom and office space for the communication and theatre department, a state-of-the-art recording studio, expanded library space, and new lobbies for Moore Theater and Kresge Auditorium.

Professor of Music Education Caroline Jetton appointed Dean of the School of Music in July of 2007.

2008

School of Music students participate in a world premiere musical, Einstein and the Roosevelts, written by Nancy Ford '57 and Gretchen Cryer '57.

Chamber Singers tours China.

2009

The DePauw School of Music celebrates its 125th Season during the 2009-2010 academic year.

The DePauw University Orchestra tours Vienna.

2010

Joan Tower is composer-in-residence for Music of the 21st Century.

Chamber Singers tour Louisiana.

Members of the DePauw Percussion Ensemble and other music students travel to Brazil.

2011

Mark McCoy appointed Dean of the School of Music.

Cellist Yo-Yo Ma spends two days at DePauw University performing and working with students.

"On behalf of the DePauw community, we are profoundly excited to welcome Yo-Yo Ma to our campus," says DePauw President Brian W. Casey. "His life’s work at the intersection of music, creativity and the exchange of ideas makes him an extraordinary ambassador, not only for the arts, but also for liberal education as a whole."

Approaching music as a means of communication and a vehicle for the movement of ideas, Yo-Yo Ma created the Silk Road Project in 1998 to promote study of the cultural, artistic and intellectual traditions along the Silk Road trade route from the Mediterranean Sea to the Pacific Ocean.

Yo-Yo Ma’s visit to Greencastle will spanned September 29 and 30, including a DePauw Discourse performance and discussion as well as a master class with DePauw School of Music students in the Judson and Joyce Green Center for the Performing Arts.

"Judson and I are delighted to bring Yo-Yo Ma to DePauw Discourse, the School of Music and the entire DePauw community," says Joyce Taglauer Green ’75, DePauw Discourse chair. "Setting the stage for a conversation distinct from those of previous DePauw Discourse programs, this year’s focus enables alumni and friends to celebrate the arts and consider their broad impact on our lives and society at large."