The Mary Pappert School of Music is one of the ten degree-granting divisions that comprise

Duquesne University Duquesne University of the Holy Spirit ( or ; Duquesne University or Duquesne) is a private Catholic research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Founded by members of the Congregation of the Holy Spirit , image = Holy Gh ...

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Western Pennsylvania, the second-most populous city in Pennsylva ...

History

The Pappert School of Music was founded in 1926, offering a Bachelor of Music degree. The Bachelor in Music Education program was added in 1930. The building which houses the school was dedicated on 29 April 1967. To commemorate the event, eminent pianist

Van Cliburn Harvey Lavan "Van" Cliburn Jr. (; July 12, 1934February 27, 2013) was an American pianist who, at the age of 23, achieved worldwide recognition when he won the inaugural International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow in 1958 during the Cold W ...

was awarded an honorary degree. The school has been NASM-accredited since 1966. The School of Music became an all-

Steinway Steinway & Sons, also known as Steinway (), is a German-American piano company, founded in 1853 in Manhattan by German piano builder Heinrich Engelhard Steinweg (later known as Henry E. Steinway). The company's growth led to the opening of a ...

institution in 2001 and is also an "all-Fender" school. The current collegiate enrollment is approximately 350, and there are about 500 non-credit music students studying in the City Music Center, an elementary through high school program hosted by the school which was founded in 1989.

Programs offered

The School of Music confers four different bachelor degrees, in Performance, Music Technology, Music Education, and Music Therapy. Graduate programs include master degrees in Performance, Theory/Composition, Sacred Music, Music Technology, and Music Education, as well as an Artist Diploma. In addition to undergraduate and graduate programs, post-baccalaureate certification is offered in Music Education and Music Therapy.

Ensembles

The Mary Pappert School of Music offers the following large ensembles: *Symphony Orchestra *Wind Symphony *Symphony Band *The Voices of Spirit *Pappert Chorale *Jazz Ensemble Additionally, all university students interested in music are invited to perform with the Dukes Pep Band at football and basketball games.

Notable faculty

Claudia Pinza Bozzolla Claudia Pinza Bozzolla (July 27, 1925 in Buenos Aires, Argentina – August 3, 2017 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) was an Argentine-American operatic soprano, vocal coach, and voice teacher of Italian origin. As a singer she performed in operas thr ...

, Voice * George Vosburgh, Trumpet * David Stock, Composer-in-Residence *

Joseph Willcox Jenkins Joseph Willcox Jenkins (15 February 1928 – 31 January 2014) was an American composer, professor of music, and musician. During his military service in the Korean War, he became the first arranger for the United States Army Chorus. He ended h ...

†, Composition * Sean Jones, Jazz Trumpet * Joe Negri, Jazz Guitar Thomas Kikta, Classical Guitar Bill Purse, Jazz Guitar Multiple Grammy winning Engineer Jay Dudt
Ann Labounsky
Pipe Organ

Notable alumni

- (honorary) *

Joseph Carl Breil Joseph Carl Breil (29 June 1870 – 23 January 1926) was an American lyric tenor, stage director, composer and conductor. He was one of the earliest American composers to compose specific music for motion pictures. His first film was ''Les amo ...

– The first person to compose a score specifically for a motion picture *

Gene Forrell Gene Forrell (1915–2005) was an American composer and conductor. Forrell was born Eugene Finkelhor in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States, where he attended Allderdice High School and Duquesne University. He left Duquesne for New York Cit ...

– Composer and conductor *

Sammy Nestico Samuel Louis Nistico (February 6, 1924 – January 17, 2021), better known as Sammy Nestico, was an American composer and arranger. Nestico is best known for his arrangements for the Count Basie orchestra. Early life and education Samuel Luigi ...

– composer and arranger of

big band A big band or jazz orchestra is a type of musical ensemble of jazz music that usually consists of ten or more musicians with four sections: saxophones, trumpets, trombones, and a rhythm section. Big bands originated during the early 1910s ...

music * William Schultz (1950) – President and CEO of Fender Musical Instruments Corporation *

Bobby Vinton Stanley Robert "Bobby" Vinton (born April 16, 1935) is a American former singer and occasional actor, who also hosted his own self-titled TV show in the late 1970s. As a teen idol, he became known as "The Polish Prince", as his music paid trib ...

(graduated 1956; honorary Doctorate in Music in 1978) *

H. Robert Reynolds H. Robert Reynolds is an American musician, conductor and academic. He is currently the principal conductor of the Wind Ensemble at the USC Thornton School of Music, Thornton School of Music at the University of Southern California, where he ho ...

, conductor (honorary)

Administration

The

dean Dean may refer to: People * Dean (given name) * Dean (surname), a surname of Anglo-Saxon English origin * Dean (South Korean singer), a stage name for singer Kwon Hyuk * Dean Delannoit, a Belgian singer most known by the mononym Dean Titles * ...

of the school is David Allen Wehr.

References

External links

*
City Music Center of Duquesne University website
{{Authority control Music schools in Pennsylvania School Mary Pappert Educational institutions established in 1926 1926 establishments in Pennsylvania