Overview

• The School of Music enrolled 247 undergraduate students and 118 graduate students for the 2009-2010 academic year. The selective enrollment is based on musical audition and academic ability.

• The school's 112 full- and part-time faculty members bring a wealth of knowledge and professional music experience to DePaul. Faculty members perform in many of Chicago's renowned music institutions, including the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Lyric Opera of Chicago, the Chicago Chamber Musicians, and numerous chamber music and jazz ensembles.

• DePaul's stellar strings faculty includes Ilya Kaler, the only violinist ever to win Gold Medals at all three of the world's most prestigious music competitions - the Tchaikovsky, Sibelius and Paganini competitions; Stephen Balderston, who joined the faculty in 2003 after a decade as assistant principal cello with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra; and Samuel Magad, former concertmaster at the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

• Benefiting from the school's strong connection to Chicago's vibrant music community, many students gain experience by performing with the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, Lyric Opera and Chicago Symphony Orchestra choruses and Grant Park Orchestra or intern with the city's professional recording studios.

• The School of Music was founded in 1912 and is located on DePaul's Lincoln Park Campus.

Distinctions

• The School of Music was named as one of the "Schools That Rock" in the 2005 Rolling Stone guidebook that evaluated collegiate music schools nationally. The book praised opportunities for DePaul music students to gain practical experience performing with Chicago professional music ensembles and noted the school's performing arts management and sound recording technology programs.

• Fortune Small Business' rating of "America's Best Colleges for Entrepreneurs," published in the magazine's September 2007 issue, ranked the School of Music's performing arts management program - an interdisciplinary music, business and theatre undergraduate major - among the 23 best cross-discipline programs for aspiring entrepreneurs in the nation. 

• The school has produced more than 3,000 graduates. Musical artists who have studied at DePaul include the late Pulitzer Prize-winning composer George Perle, former Chicago Symphony Orchestra concertmaster Samuel Magad, Chicago Children's Choir Artistic Director Josephine Lee, Metropolitan Opera baritone Stephen Powell, jazz artists Brian Culbertson and Joe Vito, members of the rock group Chicago, the late commercial music pioneer Dick Marx and Arlington Race Track bugler/trumpet performer Bonny Brown.

Programs

• Undergraduate and master's degrees are offered in performance, music composition, music education and jazz studies. Undergraduate degrees also are available in sound recording technology and performing arts management. A post-master's certificate in performance is offered.

• Since 1994, juniors in the music education program have gained valuable experience teaching music at public schools in Chicago. Once a week during the entire academic year, the juniors each teach a classroom of grammar school children to sing, play instruments, compose, read and appreciate music.

• Led by Alan Salzenstein, students in the performing arts management program study music, liberal arts, theatre, entrepreneurship and management, with a goal of entering the arts management and administration field.

• Students in the sound recording technology program, coordinated by Tom Miller, complete many of their projects at the professional studiochicago recording facility, where they are exposed to real-life recording industry situations and have access to state-of-the-art equipment.

• The music school fosters music ability and appreciation among children and adults from the community through its Community Music Division, which enrolls 650 students in after-school, evening and weekend lessons

Performances

• The school presents more than 300 public performances in a variety of musical styles each year at the DePaul Concert Hall and Recital Hall in Lincoln Park, DePaul's Merle Reskin Theatre in the South Loop and Orchestra Hall at Symphony Center.

• Under the direction of distinguished conductor and composer Cliff Colnot, the highly regarded DePaul Symphony Orchestra presents four concerts annually. The orchestra's Joseph and Marie Grant Spring Concert at Orchestra Hall has been supported annually since 1976 by the late Joseph Grant, a 1932 DePaul law alumnus and School of Music advisory board member, and his family.

• The DePaul Jazz Ensemble, 17 talented students from the school's award-winning jazz program directed by trumpeter Bob Lark, performs publicly throughout the academic year at Chicago's legendary Jazz Showcase, jazz clinics and concerts. The group also has performed on the Queen Elizabeth II ocean liner and presented a concert series in Italy.

• The Jazz Ensemble has performed with famed jazz artists Phil Woods, Slide Hampton, Bobby Shew, Bob Brookmeyer, Tom Harrell, Louie Bellson, Byron Stripling, James Moody, Nancy Wilson, Clark Terry and the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra. The band has been featured on professional recordings with many of these musicians.

• An annual recording project by the Jazz Ensemble, featuring student, faculty and commissioned works, also occurs each spring. These recordings have produced a number of awards from DownBeat magazine and the Jazz Educators Journal.

• Directed by Harry Silverstein, the DePaul Opera Theatre (DOT) presents two major productions annually. Graduates of the troupe grace the stages of The Metropolitan Opera, Lyric Opera, Berlin Opera and Zurich Opera, as well as regional companies around the United States. Several have won major competitions, including the Metropolitan Opera's national competition.

• Under the direction of distinguished composer and emeritus faculty member George Flynn, New Music DePaul is an annual concert series that presents an eclectic mix of new music performed by professional musicians. Compositions by established contemporary international, Midwest and DePaul faculty composers are performed in the series. Many of the performers also serve on the faculty at DePaul.

• Under the direction of Clayton Parr, DePaul's choral singers - who perform as the University Chorus, Concert Choir and DePaul A Cappella - present a variety of concerts and opera productions annually. In the summer of 2007, DePaul A Cappella performed in Dublin, Ireland and at the International Eisteddfod competition in Llangollen, Wales.

About the Dean

• Donald Casey has been dean since 1995. His academic background is in music education, and he is an accomplished conductor, arranger and scholar. He also is a music education design consultant and a partner in a children's music education software company.

The School of Music Web site is http://music.depaul.edu.