USC Thornton Toasts 125 Melodious Years

September 11, 2009 11:12 AM

The USC Thornton School of Music, one of the oldest and most illustrious music schools in the country, celebrated its 125th anniversary in grand style at Town & Gown on Sept. 10.

The celebration spotlighted the school’s 125-year history, its leading role in the music industry and its focus on the future. More than 700 people, including community leaders and friends and family of the internationally acclaimed institution, attended the largest party in USC Thornton’s history at which several major announcements were made.

“This is a momentous milestone for a storied institution,” said Rob Cutietta, dean of USC Thornton. “Thornton, which was founded long before the birth of the region’s film and recording industries, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, LA Opera or any of the Southland’s other leading music ensembles or cultural institutions, is truly the cornerstone of culture in Los Angeles. Since its inception in 1884, the school and its celebrated faculty and alumni have played a pivotal role in the music industry here and abroad.

“In marking USC Thornton’s 125th anniversary, we wanted to reflect upon its illustrious history, and, in the true spirit of the school, look ahead to the next 125 years and the plans that we’ve made to help ensure it will continue its leadership role.”

Joining Cutietta to anchor the evening’s program was opera star and Los Angeles native Suzanna Guzman, a member of the USC Thornton Board of Advisers, who served as master of ceremonies. Other speakers delivering announcements about the school were pianist Alan Pasqua, chair of the school’s jazz studies department; Grammy-nominated drummer Gregg Field, also a member of the board; USC Thornton graduate student Sarah Gibson; and Ron Losby, president of Steinway and Sons.

USC Thornton is currently in the midst of a four-year renovation and expansion. Increased instructional and rehearsal space will help to accommodate the growing student body attracted by the school’s newly expanded curriculum and faculty.

Among the significant upgrades on existing facilities was the recent renovation and renaming of the Simon Ramo Recital Hall, funded with a generous $800,000 gift from Virginia and Simon Ramo. A new student services, financial aid and admissions center recently was renovated.

Last month, the school welcomed incoming students into three new undergraduate degree programs designed in collaboration with USC’s five arts schools. In addition, USC Thornton will begin accepting students into a newly revised doctorate program in music education aimed at attracting working professionals in the field.

Other improvements to the school include:

• Jascha Heifetz’s historic seven-foot Steinway grand piano, hand-selected in 1975 by the renowned artist himself specifically for playing chamber music, has been donated to the school by arts patron Simon Ramo. For the past 35 years, the piano has been impeccably maintained with tuning and servicing every six months. It will be returned to USC Thornton in October.

This summer, the school acquired 30 new Steinway pianos, bringing its total Steinway collection to 99 (including the Heifetz piano) and further building upon its distinguished history with the piano company. Recent piano acquisitions cost $2.1 million and were funded by gifts from the Colburn Foundation, the USC Thornton Board of Advisers and other sources.

• A new professorship, the H. Robert Reynolds Endowed Professorship in Wind Conducting, has been established with a gift from John and Sandy Daniels to ensure that USC Thornton will always have a wind conductor of renown as a central part of the school. Reynolds, the principal conductor of the USC Thornton Wind Ensemble, is regarded as the world’s premier wind ensemble conductor. He joined USC’s faculty in September 2001 following his retirement, after 26 years, from the School of Music of the University of Michigan.

• Several major gifts with a 1-2-5 theme, based on the anniversary, were announced. Among them, a $1.25 million gift from Ruth Ross will augment the Alice and Eleonore Schoenfeld Scholarship for string students.

Ross, a lifelong friend of the Schoenfeld sisters, themselves longtime USC Thornton faculty members, originally established the scholarship in 2004.

A $125,000 matching challenge gift from David and Krystyna Newman will help launch the school’s 125th Anniversary Fund Campaign.

Part of the legendary Newman film music family, David is a USC Thornton alumnus and an Oscar-nominated film composer whose credits include Matilda, Anastasia, Galaxy Quest, Bowfinger, Ice Age, Serenity and Hoffa. Krystyna, formerly a freelance violinist, works as a scoring supervisor for David. The Newmans’ daughter, Diana, is enrolled at USC Thornton as a vocal arts performance major.

USC alums Joanne and Marcel George, longtime friends of the music school, made a $125,000 gift to augment the Joanne and Marcel George Endowed Music Scholarship in Jazz Studies, a philanthropic expression of Marcel’s love of swing era music and his affinity for the saxophone.

Major support has also been provided by philanthropist and school namesake Flora L. Thornton and the Buscaglia Foundation to help underwrite the institution’s 125th anniversary festivities.

An overview of the school’s 125-day celebration was announced, reflecting a range of musical programs.

Among the highlights: Alumnus Michael Tilson Thomas will conduct the USC Thornton Symphony Orchestra in Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 4 (Oct. 5); the Steve Miller Band will perform two benefit concerts (Oct. 22 and 23); USC Thornton Choral Artists and Symphony will perform Bach's seminal B Minor Mass under the direction of Helmuth Rilling (Nov. 13); the aptly named “Opus 125 Concert” featuring members of the school’s illustrious faculty will perform music based on the theme of 125 (Nov. 15); USC Thornton Opera’s production of Benjamin Britten’s comedic opera Albert Herring (Nov. 19-22); and USC Thornton’s annual Charles Dickens Dinner, which brings the 125th anniversary festivities to a close on Dec. 11.

The celebration included a six-minute video featuring friends and family of USC Thornton, providing an overview of the ever-evolving institution and its broad reach. In addition, an elaborate 45-foot long photo display of more than 100 images traced the school’s history.

Dean Cutietta’s toast summed up the evening’s sentiments: “May our beloved school continue to be a leader on the global stage, inspiring and shaping generations of students and their creative gifts for the next century and a quarter and beyond.”

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