USC Announces $6M in gifts to Music School; Celebrates School’s 125th Year
Robert A. Cutietta, Dean of the USC Thornton School of Music and Flora L. Thornton Celebrate the 125th year of the school's founding in 1884.
In a region that celebrates the latest in everything: from fashion and architecture to fads, finding something that has been around 125 years continuously advancing the cause of music in Los Angeles is truly a phenomenon. We recommend that you stand up, raise a toast, and drink to a cultural icon, the University of Southern California’s School of Music that dates to 1884. The school, named the Flora L. Thornton School of Music as a result of a $25 million gift to the university in 1999, has a history that few other music schools in this country can match.
The Thornton School of Music, with its founding in 1884, pre-dates the Julliard School (founded in 1905); the Manhattan School of Music (1917); the Eastman School of Music (1921); and the Curtis Institute (1924) to name a few. The small wooden building that was the very first structure at the university, built in 1880, was called Widney Hall when it housed the School of Music and the school remained there until after World War II.
Today, the music school offers 16 degree-granting programs to 1,072 enrolled students. Over the years, faculty members have included luminaries such as violinist Jascha Heifitz, cellist Gregor Piatigorsky, composers Igor Stravinsky and Arnold Schoenberg, violist William Primrose, and many others. Celebrated alumni include pop artist Herb Alpert; film score composers James Horner and Jerry Goldsmith; choral composer Morten Lauridsen; conductors Michael Tilson Thomas and Grant Gershon; opera stars Marilyn Horne, Rod Gilfry, Jessica Rivera and Erica Miller; and esteemed classical guitarist Christopher Parkening.
Alumni of the USC School of Music that add greatly to our local music scene as well as maintaining national reputations include violinist Robert Cani; jazz pianist Billy Childs; violinist Elizabeth Pitcairn; the Los Angeles Guitar Quartet; tenors Randall Bills and Robert MacNeil; percussionist Brandon Bernstein; organists Christoph Bull, Timothy Howard and Daniel Kerr; pianist Kirill Gliadkovsky; choral directors Donald Brinegar and Grant Gershon; conductor Victor Vener; and 20% of the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, 26% of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra and 28% of the Los Angeles Opera Orchestra. The school’s alumni serve as members of 15 orchestras throughout the country, including the Pasadena Symphony and the California Philharmonic Orchestra.
At a party to celebrate the occasion, held Sept.10 on the USC campus at Town and Gown, Robert A. Cutietta, dean of the USC Thornton School of Music announced that in addition to the major renovation and expansion of the school’s facilities, Jascha Heifitz’ 7-foot Steinway Grand piano has been donated to the school as well as the acquisition of 30 new Steinway pianos to add to the 69 now in assorted practice rooms. Several gifts were also announced that totaled $6 million.
By Bill Peters
Leave a Reply
