Boston University marks 150 years of the School of Music

BU School of Music, the oldest degree-granting music school in the country, celebrates its sesquicentennial with a year of concerts, workshops, masterclasses, and special events

Boston University College of Fine Arts (CFA) School of Music, founded in 1872, is the first degree-granting music school in the country, and this year celebrates its sesquicentennial with a lineup of concerts, workshops, masterclasses, and special events.

As Gregory Melchor-Barz, director of Boston University School of Music, reflects, “the historical responsibility of being the first music degree-granting institution in the United States is not lost on us at Boston University. In the coming anniversary year of celebration, the College of Fine Arts School of Music reflects on its history while keeping an eye out for the bright futures of our students.”

“Our inherited traditions, repertoires, and rituals are rich. Richer still are the talents and gifts of change and hope brought to us by our current students. And this year, we celebrate all the new traditions, new repertoires, and new rituals that gloriously fill the halls of our outstanding School of Music.”

SIGNATURE EVENTS

The School of Music’s annual concert at Symphony Hall on April 5, 2022, marked the start of a year of celebrations, and the 2023 concert will bookend the anniversary year.

Learn more about the milestone and the sesquicentennial’s signature events series and register for events at www.bu.edu/cfa/bumusic150.

In addition to these signature events, music-lovers from the Boston community and beyond are invited to experience the array of the School of Music’s offerings throughout the year.

A HISTORY OF THE SCHOOL OF MUSIC AT BOSTON UNIVERSITY

What was known then as Boston University College of Music was created in 1872 as a part of a graduate theology program. In 1929 it experienced a revitalization as a part of the School of Education, refocusing on educating music teachers. By the time of the 1954 establishment of the unified College, the College of Music was located at 25 Blagden Street, behind the Boston Public Library. Along with the departments of theatre and visual arts, the units became known as “Divisions” within the collective School for the Fine and Applied Arts. Boston University acquired property west of BU’s flagship College of Liberal Arts and School of Theology, and in January 1958, the doors of the College’s new home at 855 Commonwealth Avenue opened.

In the 1970s, Music and the divisions of Theatre and Visual Arts became known as “Schools,” and the School of Fine and Applied Arts became the School for the Arts. That remained until 2001, when the institution was renamed “College of Fine Arts” (CFA). The world of music at Boston University is rich and layered, and has grown to include the lauded Opera Institute, established in 1985 to train singers for the operatic profession. And in 1966, across the state in Lenox, MA, but rooted in the vision and community of music at Boston University, the Boston University Tanglewood Institute was established, which has grown into one of today’s premier training programs for young musicians.

With internationally recognized faculty-artists, access to world-class stages, and all the collaborative opportunities of a top-tier research university, the School of Music continues to develop the minds, bodies, and voices of the next generation of artists, musicians, and scholars. A true beacon for musicians, educators, historians, and collaborators, Boston University School of Music has laid the groundwork for the next 150 years.

Boston University

Founded in 1839, Boston University is an internationally recognized institution of higher education and research. With more than 34,000 students, it is the fourth-largest independent university in the United States. BU consists of 17 schools and colleges, along with a number of multi-disciplinary centers and institutes integral to the University’s research and teaching mission. In 2012, BU joined the Association of American Universities (AAU), a consortium of 62 leading research universities in the United States and Canada. Learn more at bu.edu.

Boston University College of Fine Arts

Established in 1954, Boston University College of Fine Arts (CFA) is a community of artist-scholars and scholar-artists who are passionate about the fine and performing arts, committed to diversity and inclusion, and determined to improve the lives of others through art. With programs in Music, Theatre, and Visual Arts, CFA prepares students for a meaningful creative life by developing their intellectual capacity to create art, shift perspective, think broadly, and master relevant 21st-century skills. CFA offers a wide array of undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral programs, as well as a range of online degrees and certificates. Learn more at bu.edu/cfa.

Boston University College of Fine Arts School of Music

Founded in 1872, Boston University College of Fine Arts School of Music combines the intimacy and intensity of traditional conservatory-style training with a broad liberal arts education at the undergraduate level, and elective coursework at the graduate level. The school offers degrees in performance, conducting, composition and theory, musicology, music education, and historical performance, as well as artist and performance diplomas and a certificate program in its Opera Institute. Learn more at bu.edu/cfa/music.