SESQUICENTENNIALLY 150!

Since you are a reader of Rafael Music Notes you must also be a fan of our University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music.

And even if you do not live within driving distance of CCM’s campus, you must by now be used to my frequent previews and reviews of its more than one thousand annual arts events.

Moreover, whether or not you regularly attend any of CCM’s concerts, operas, ballets, musicals and plays, you are reading this!

I hope that you will go from reading about CCM’s one hundred and fiftieth anniversary to actually catching at least some of its upcoming celebration and buying a pair of tickets to one or more of the events lined up for the 2017-2018 season.

Here’s some history.

In 1819 the University of Cincinnati was founded in our already growing city by the Ohio River. No music school existed in the State of Ohio until 1867, when Clara Baur rented a room in Miss Nourse’s School for Young Ladies and established the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music.

Within the year, Chicago and Boston had founded their own conservatories, and the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music had established itself as the only residential music conservatory in the country.

Enrollment grew to 1,000 students and the faculty of the school grew exponentially, as did its physical plant, when the former Shilito Mansion was purchased along with the land on which to add future buildings.

Meanwhile another music school had come into being in 1878: the College of Music of Cincinnati.

Its location close to Cincinnati’s Music Hall, its close ties to the University of Cincinnati’s School of Education, and a world-class faculty contributed to its growth as a training center for young people seeking an academic degree in Music Education.

By 1955 it had become obvious to the managements of both the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music and  the College of Music of Cincinnati that, by uniting both institutions great things could be accomplished.

Cincinnati’s College-Conservatory of Music was born.

In 1962 the hyphenated title of the school changed once more when CCM became the 14th college of the University of Cincinnati.

Immediately thereafter construction began on the CCM complex on UC’s campus. By 1967 construction had been completed and the School’s one hundredth anniversary was celebrated in the state-of-the-art Corbett Auditorium with the Cincinnati premiere of Alexander Borodin’s Prince Igor.

That is but some of CCM’s history. More details about CCM’s history can be found in the excellent article by Rebecca Butts on http://ccm.uc.edu/about/villagenews/notations-ovations/sesquicentennial-celebration.html

In my next post I will share details about what’s up ahead at CCM.

Rafael de Acha