BLODGETT:
CHAMBER MUSIC SERIES
and
DISTINGUISHED ARTISTS


Neba Solo, master balafon player from Mali, brought his musicians and dancers to Harvard for a week's residency as a Blodgett Distinguished Artist.

The Blodgett Chamber Music Series produces several concerts each year featuring the artists-in-residence. These concerts are free and open to the public, and take place in John Knowles Paine Concert Hall.

The Blodgett Artist-in-Residence Program
The Blodgett Artist-in-Residence program is made possible through a gift from Mr. and Mrs. John W. Blodgett, Jr. The program provides for distinguished artists and ensembles to spend four weeks each year in residence at the Harvard University Department of Music offering workshops, coaching, and lessons to Harvard students. The Blodgett artists are also available to read undergraduate and graduate student compositions, and to perform a composition by the winner of the annual Blodgett Composition Competition. Each visit culminates with a free public performance.

Additionally, the music department invites Blodgett Distinguished Artists to lecture and perform in a variety of musical disciplines. Recent artists have been Koo Nimo (Ghanaian music), Sir Harrison Birtwistle (composer), and Neba Solo (Malian balafon musician) and jazz pioneer Geri Allen.

photo: Christian Steiner

FROMM PLAYERS AT HARVARD

Gil Rose, conductor, Boston Modern Orchestra Project; Fromm Players concert

The Fromm Players at Harvard give a series of concerts in Paine Hall which are devoted to new music. The concerts are sponsored by the Department and the Fromm Music Foundation at Harvard.

The Fromm Foundation at Harvard is the oldest foundation in the country devoted exclusively to the support of new music. From 1972 through 1987 the Fromm Music Foundation was partially administered by the Music Department. Beginning in the fall of 1987, it was moved entirely here. The Foundation grants commissions annually to young composers, sponsors an annual composition award and contemporary music concert at Tanglewood, and has recently helped to establish a composer residency at the American Academy in Rome. In addition, the Foundation has supported a variety of concerts and festivals of new music throughout the country.

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HARVARD GROUP FOR NEW MUSIC

Performance at Midway Studios, 2005
Photo: Tolga Yayalar

HGNM is comprised of Harvard University Music Department graduate students, including composers from the composition, theory musicology and ethnomusicology programs. The primary purpose of HGNM is to perform works by its membership, to foster a sense of community among the resident composers and to develop musical and professional relationships beyond the group. HGNM presents four concerts a year including the Thelma E. Goldberg Concert and the FROMM residency. In addition, members of HGNM collaborate with HUSEAC (Harvard University Studio for Electroacoustic Composition) to concerts of
original works.

THELMA E. GOLDBERG CONCERT

The Thelma E. Goldberg Concert was established by Professor Ray Goldberg in honor of his wife. The concert is meant to encourage performances of contemporary music by current Harvard student composers. All Harvard students, from first-year undergraduates to Ph.D. candidates, are eligible to submit works for consideration.

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WORLD MUSIC AT HARVARD

This is a series of concerts and lectures given by significant performers of world music from outside Harvard. Events are free, open to the public, and generally held in John Knowles Paine Concert Hall. Concerts have included Zimbabwe Mbira, a Mbira Music Lecture Demonstration, Turkish classical musicians Reha and Selma Sagbas, and a concert of music from South Asia.

PERFORMANCE COURSES


Harvard's Gamelan Si Betty

INFORMATION ON MUSIC PERFORMANCE
OUTSIDE THE DEPARTMENT

 
Jazz master Geri Allen works with students as part of a Music Department/Office for the Arts Collaboration. Below, an Ethiopian conference features Mulatu Astarke, founder of Ethio-Jazz in concert with Either/Orchestra. Photo by Chris Burbul.

The Office for the Arts and the Harvard Houses

Harvard has a rich tradition of art making. Nearly half of the College’s 6,600 undergraduates participate in an arts practice, and as a community, it is prolific. The music community is especially ambitious. Harvard students present close to 450 concerts annually – everything from operas to a cappella (including 16 groups) to recitals, chamber music, rock concerts, jazz performances, and a host of musical presentations from non-Western traditions.

Many Harvard singers and instrumentalists are conservatory caliber musicians who have opted for a liberal arts education at Harvard. A select few already have professional performing careers. It is, in short, a vibrant and very full arts scene at Harvard.

Numerous performance opportunities are available. Music performance, like all performing arts at Harvard, is considered extra-curricular. Musical groups on campus are all student-governed, and each handles its own auditions, operations, touring and funding.

For the most comprehensive information on all Harvard's musical organizations and groups, consult the OFA music site, a resource maintained by the Office for the Arts at Harvard.

Many students opt to take music lessons while they are at Harvard. Lessons are arranged privately between the student and his/her instructor, and are usually considered extra-curricular. Some students have their current instructor recommend teachers in the Boston area. Some find their instructor through the bulletin board in the Music Department or seek recommendations from fellow students. The Office for the Arts has a new online music teacher reference guide where you can find information (training, fees, etc.) of many Boston area teachers.

The Office for the Arts (see above) can help students with music lessons. They maintain a Lesson Subsidy Program (late September deadline; all application material is to be obtained from them. An audition may be required for students requesting subsidies for the first time).

Several of the Harvard houses offer opportunities for musical performance. For instance, Dudley House hosts several graduate student music groups including a chorus, orchestra, jazz band, and traditional music ensemble. Each house has its own music tutor or tutors and all of the houses have piano practice rooms and pianos available for students.

[Mulatu photos: http://photo.burbul.com]

The Harvard Box Office provides a campus-wide schedule of cultural events/tickets and passes. It's located in the Holyoke Center Arcade in the middle of Harvard Square.

Harvard Gazette
The Harvard Gazette publishes weekly listings of performances and lectures. Click here to see the current on-line Gazette calendar.

Articles on music at Harvard:

New Music Scores
Music Activity at a Fever Pitch
A Different Tone
Arts Spectrum: Focus on Music
Undergraduates Stroll Down Great White Way
Global Tintinnabulation
The Cantoria Code
Copland: Cold War Ambassador
Sixty Years of Electronic Music
Gamelon-a-thon!
Summer Study abroad in Mali, Africa
Changing Lives with Music and Science

All performance ensembles are considered extra-curricular and carry no possiblity for academic credit.

The following is a partial list of student music groups on campus. A more complete list (including opera, musical theater, music appreciation and many more chamber choral and world music groups) is available from the Office for the Arts (http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~ofa)

Choirs:
Dudley House Chorus
Harvard Glee Club
Harvard-Radcliffe Chorus
Harvard-Radcliffe Collegium Musicum
Kuumba Singers
Radcliffe Choral Society
University Choir

Early Music:
Harvard Early Music Society

Orchestras:
Bach Society Orchestra
Dudley House Orchestra
Harvard Baroque Chamber Orchestra
Harvard-Radcliffe Orchestra
Mozart Society Orchestra
Toscanini Chamber Orchestra

Chamber Music & Ensembles:
Brattle Street Chamber Players
(contact anderegg@fas)
Houghton Library Chamber Music Series
Mather House Chamber Music Program
Harvard Wind Ensemble

New Music:
Harvard Group for New Music
Harvard-Radcliffe Contemporary Music Ensemble

Concert Bands:
Harvard University Band

Jazz Bands:
Dudley House Jazz Band
Harvard Jazz Bands

Instrument-Dedicated Groups:
Harvard-Radcliffe Organ Society
T.H.U.D. (The Harvard University Drummers)
Harvard University Flute Ensemble

World Music:
Dudley House Traditional Music Ensemble
Han Ma-Eum (Korean Drummers)
Mariachi Veritas

Gamelan:
site/info to come

A Capella Groups:
Harvard Din and Tonics
Harvard Low Keys
Harvard-Radcliffe Callbacks
Harvard-Radcliffe Opportunes
Harvard-Radcliffe Veritones
Mizmor Shir
Noteables
Radcliffe Pitches 
for the Harvard Krocodiloes, go to http://www.kroks.com/

Theatrical/Opera:
Harvard-Radcliffe Gilbert and Sullivan Players
Dunster House Opera
Hasty Pudding Theatricals
Lowell House Opera

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