FROM THE DESK OF THE DEAN | | |
Students at the Jacobs School of Music have been hard at work with their academics and robust performance schedules this semester.
Highlights of the fall included the Fall Ballet, featuring four different works—two of which were world premieres—with choreography ranging from Balanchine to Nicole Haskins, an up-and-coming choreographer. The highlight of the evening, however, was “Angels in the Architecture,” choreographed by Mark Godden and performed to the score of Copland’s Appalachian Spring. It was breathtaking.
IU JSoM Opera Theater presented Don Giovanni, The Lucky Star (L’Étoile), and Hansel and Gretel, all of which were exquisitely sung and beautifully produced. The performance of Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 4 in F Minor, Op. 36 in September, conducted by Arthur Fagen, and Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony in October, conducted by Thomas Wilkins with the chorus prepared by Betsy Burleigh, were extraordinary events in the life of the school.
Also memorable was the faculty performance on Yom Kippur of Messiaen’s Quatuor pour la fin du temps performed by Mark Kaplan, violin; Futaba Niekawa, piano; Peter Stumpf, cello; and Gábor Varga, clarinet.
We were honored to host a symposium and concert on the violin sonatas of Johannes Brahms, presented by the Jacobs School departments of piano, strings, music theory, and musicology, with support from a Distinguished Lecturer Award from the Jacobs Lecture Committee.
We also had the pleasure of hosting the 2022 American Liszt Society Festival: Liszt and His Pupils, where Distinguished Professor André Watts received the American Liszt Society Medal for his career-long commitment to the music and ideals of this great composer, pianist, and teacher.
Finally, we are saying goodbye to our beloved, longstanding Nutcracker production this year, with choreography by Michael Vernon and sets and costumes by the incomparable C. David Higgins. This production has been the bedrock of many holiday memories for a very long time in Bloomington. While we will miss this version, we look forward to an updated production with new choreography, sets, and costumes in December 2023. | | |
Faculty and Student Accomplishments—Fall 2022 | | |
Each semester, the collective accomplishments of our outstanding faculty and students are too numerous to mention, but I want to give a special shout-out to at least a few.
We congratulate faculty members Denson Paul Pollard, Michelle DeYoung, and Jiji Kim on their 2023 Grammy nominations; Julian L. Hook on his just-published book, Exploring Musical Spaces: A Synthesis of Mathematical Approaches; pianist Kevin Murphy for the recent album Légende: Concours for Oboe and Piano, with oboist ToniMarie Marchioni (University of Kentucky); and NOTUS, directed by Dominick DiOrio, on its brand new What is Ours: Music for an America in Progress album, featuring Roger Roe, English horn.
We are equally proud of our students, of course, among them: Young Sun Choi, for winning first prize at the Rina Sala Gallo Monza International Piano Competition; Heejin Kim, for being named winner of the Yuko Hayashi Memorial First Prize at the Boston Bach International Organ Competition; Nicolette van den Bogerd, who spent this semester as a visiting scholar at Warsaw University’s Musicology Institute, among many other recent honors; and Historical Performance soprano Brett Umlauf, who is spending this year as a Fulbright Fellow on joint-country research in Greece and Turkey.
We have much to be grateful for at the Jacobs School of Music! | | |
The fall 2022 semester brought an enrollment of 1,603 students, one of our largest student populations in many years. As we approach the halfway point in our fiscal year, we remain on plan.
Impacting this year has been strong net tuition due to the large number of enrolled students offset by some exposure in increased financial aid costs and increased pressure on costs—compensation, contractuals, and deferred maintenance—due to inflationary pressures. We will continue to monitor the budget closely in the coming months. | | |
Our Development Office has been hard at work, traveling the country meeting with donors and securing some pretty incredible gifts for the school. I have enjoyed working with the Development team and the amazing donors of the Jacobs School. What impresses me most isn’t necessarily the monetary value of these gifts, but the passionate, supportive nature that drives our donors’ philanthropy.
Some of those gifts supported the Onia Quartet on its trip to Palo Alto, California, Bloomington’s Sibling City, where this wonderful student ensemble represented the school and engaged constituents, including IU alumni, in the area. The quartet offered concerts, participated in master classes, and dazzled with its incredible poise and talent.
Additionally, we had a donor whose gift is supporting travel and accommodations to the Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center in Chicago for all principal cast members of the opera Anne Frank, based on her famous diary. The donor was so moved to learn of the opera’s creation and premiere here at Jacobs, that they wanted to deepen our students’ experience and connection to one of history’s most important literary works.
Also moving, especially at this time of year, are our faculty and staff contributions to the Jacobs School Student Support Fund. The fund was established in 2017 by Jacobs faculty who sought to help students with needs that existed outside of their financial aid. Gifts to this fund support students with food security, living expenses, safe housing, transportation costs, medical needs, instrument rental, and much more. I can think of no better calling than service to our students, and this fund is truly emblematic of that.
My sincere thanks to all of you who support these meaningful philanthropic initiatives. | | |
The school’s strategic planning continues to unfold. This fall, almost 400 people completed a survey gathering information on perceptions about the school: what is working well, challenges, opportunities, and more. Of that number, 27.6% identified themselves as faculty, 18.8% as staff, 46.2% as students, 5.3% as alumni, and about another 2% as Dean’s Advisory Council and “other.”
The survey provided a wealth of information! Throughout the fall, the Steering Committee has worked to develop new mission and vision statements and identify key themes from the data.
On January 6, the school will hold a town hall for faculty, staff, and student leaders to get input on our revised mission and vision statements and participate in a design thinking workshop focused on the future of our beloved school of music and ballet. We will be joined by IU Bloomington Provost Rahul Shrivastav and keynote speaker Thomas Morris.
Mr. Morris is recognized as one of the most innovative leaders in the orchestra industry and served as the longtime chief executive leader of both The Cleveland Orchestra and the Boston Symphony Orchestra. He is currently active nationally and internationally as a consultant, lecturer, teacher, and writer. As more information becomes available, we will update the entire community. | | |
Task Force on Staff Engagement | | |
I noted in my previous quarterly newsletter that the Task Force on Staff Engagement was formed over the summer. A report was delivered to the school leadership in October after a series of listening sessions with our staff, a follow-up survey, and further work by the task force to synthesize the findings and make recommendations.
In short, this report highlights the passion, respect, and commitment staff have for their work, colleagues (faculty and staff alike), and the school. It also itemizes the challenges staff face: not enough resources (pay, time, and fellow staff), a need for leadership to discuss their performance and the challenges in their roles, and a need for better sharing of information in general.
The task force recommended several initiatives to address these challenges, which the executive leadership immediately approved, including in the categories of compensation and staffing shortages, technology, training and development, and community building. A timeline for the implementation of these initiatives has been announced internally, and we are working to move forward together to improve staff engagement. | | |
The Jacobs Academy is offering several exciting new programs for children and adult learners.
Starting this spring, the Historical Performance Academy will provide lessons in harpsichord, recorder, and viola da gamba for all ages. The Jacobs Composition Academy is also offering a new course option for those already studying composition elsewhere. This course includes weekly master classes, with a culminating performance and recording of the new works by Jacobs students.
Additionally, two pilot projects will launch this spring: an instructional video for elementary students focused on the Carnival of the Animals, and an online class on Leonard Bernstein that will be available as Opera Theater presents Candide in April.
We are busy preparing for summer with some new offerings. Professional Quartet Studies with the Pacifica String Quartet and Atar Arad will offer pre-professional quartets the opportunity to learn, teach, and perform on our campus. The IU Schola Cantorum will provide a unique opportunity for high school and undergraduate students to perform a capella and accompanied sacred choral music.
Two new summer programs for high school students include the Classical Saxophone Institute and the Summer Trumpet Academy. Adult amateurs are encouraged to join us on campus for the Music and Creativity Weekend as well as off-campus for the New Horizons Summer Retreat.
We look forward to offering these new courses in addition to continuing our long-standing programs and hope to see many new faces on campus to participate in the Jacobs Academy! | | |
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Four Jacobs students and one faculty member are recipients of the school’s inaugural Innovation Grants. The grants are designed to support innovative ideas in performance or research for musicians, scholars, and dancers with projects that are collaborative in nature and embedded in the Bloomington community. All projects will be launched in the spring and documented with videography, photography, and more. | | |
The Diversity and Equity Committee is now offering funding in support of diversity and inclusion activities within the school. Each department is eligible to receive up to $2,000 each year toward the expenses of an on-campus visit from a guest performer or scholar who promotes diversity and inclusion.
We look forward to bringing more guests to campus who reflect the broad intersectionality of our students. More information may be found on the committee’s website. | | |
Jacobs Faculty Bookshelf and The Main | | |
There is a remarkable amount of scholarship and creative activity at the school by both faculty and students. Jacobs Communications is pleased to announce the launch of two new pages at music.indiana.edu where visitors can peruse some of this output.
The Jacobs Faculty Bookshelf is a listing of faculty publications and where to find them online. Publication types include books, articles, and recordings and are available commercially and/or through IUCAT.
The Main is a collection of student achievements in performance, teaching, scholarship, and more. Noteworthy items include awards; participation in competitions, festivals, and young artist programs; major performances and premieres; publications; presentations at conferences; and professional appointments of recent graduates.
Submissions to these pages may be made via the Communications Request Forms page.
I wish everyone in the Jacobs community a successful conclusion to the fall semester and a happy and healthy holiday season and New Year. | | |
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Abra K. Bush |
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David Henry Jacobs Bicentennial Dean |
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