The USC Thornton School of Music, currently celebrating its 125th Anniversary, has received a generous $125,000 matching challenge grant from Malibu residents David and Krystyna Newman to help launch the school�s 125th Anniversary Fund Campaign. The Newmans will match all fund contributions up to $125,000 from alumni, parents and friends during the school�s anniversary year.
A USC Thornton alumnus and part of the legendary Newman film music family, David is 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 scoring supervisor for David. The Newman�s daughter, Diana, is currently enrolled at USC Thornton as a vocal arts performance major.
Dr. Robert Cutietta, Dean of the USC Thornton School of Music, announced the Newman�s gift at a reception and concert featuring the USC Thornton Symphony Orchestra that kicked off the school�s anniversary on September 10, at Bovard Auditorium.
�We are extremely grateful to the Newmans for their generosity and support of Thornton,� said Cutietta. �By linking their gift to the school�s milestone anniversary, they are helping to spotlight the institution�s rich history, its unparalleled role in music education and its dynamic future. It is also of particular significance that David, a USC Thornton alumnus and parent of a Thornton student, is challenging his fellow alumni, other parents and others to support Thornton during this landmark year.�
Describing the impetus for the gift, Newman states, �Given our family�s long history with USC, we are delighted to partner with the Thornton School during its 125th Anniversary year. We issue this matching challenge to encourage all Thornton alumni, parents and friends to get involved and contribute to the future success of USC Thornton, which has long been and promises to be a vital training ground for music�s future leaders.�
For Further Information
For additional information about the USC Thornton School of Music, its 125th Anniversary or to support the school�s 125th Anniversary Fund Campaign, please call (213) 821-1664 or visit www.usc.edu/music.
DETAILS ABOUT THORNTON�S 125th ANNIVERSARY
The prestigious USC Thornton School of Music, long considered one of the world�s leading music schools and noted for its broad spectrum of outstanding programs, renowned faculty and top-tier students, commemorates its 125th Anniversary with its most ambitious celebration ever, spanning 125 days and coinciding with the Fall 2009 semester. The unprecedented 125-day anniversary celebration features more than 50 events showcasing each of the School�s 16 departments. Festivities � which include concerts, special lectures, seminars, masterclasses, visual displays, opera productions, and interdisciplinary programs � began on August 9, 2009 and culminates on December 11, 2009. Many of these events are open to the public free of charge.
Among the numerous artists to be featured over the 18-week celebration are pop icon Steve Miller; contemporary music sensation eighth blackbird; internationally acclaimed conductors Helmuth Rilling and Michael Tilson Thomas; classical guitar legends and USC Thornton faculty members Pepe Romero, James Smith, William Kanengiser and Brian Head; and jazz greats Alan Pasqua, Bob Mintzer, John Clayton and Peter Erskine, all of whom are also on USC Thornton�s faculty.
Dean Cutietta has also announced a number of groundbreaking initiatives tied to the 125th Anniversary, including the acquisition of several buildings on the USC campus that will be used for instruction and rehearsal purposes.
In addition, USC Thornton adds this fall to its already diverse curriculum four new undergraduate programs. Among them is a Popular Music Performance degree, the first of its kind in the nation. Additionally, a new Bachelor of Arts in Choral Music becomes one of only three such programs in the nation. USC Thornton also introduces a Bachelor of Arts in Vocal Jazz for the first time, as well as a Bachelor of Arts in Performing and Visual Arts Studies, an innovative interdisciplinary program among all five of USC�s arts schools: School of Architecture, School of Cinematic Arts, Roski School of Fine Arts, School of Theatre, and Thornton School of Music.
At the graduate level, USC Thornton unveils a revised Doctorate in Music Education and a revised Doctorate in Sacred Music, both of which have been honed to ensure they continue to set the bar in these fields.
To accommodate these new programs and enhance existing ones, USC Thornton has made several major faculty appointments in recent years: acclaimed Grammy award winning saxophonist and Yellowjackets member Bob Mintzer, Bowen H. �Buzz� McCoy and Barbara M. McCoy Endowed Chair in Jazz; Motown songwriting legend Lamont Dozier, Popular Music Artist in Residence; Washington Post Pulitzer-Prize winning columnist Tim Page, Associate Professor of Musicology; President-Elect of the American Choral Directors Association Jo-Michael Scheibe, Chair of Choral and Sacred Music; leading opera star Rod Gilfry, Associate Professor of Vocal Arts and Opera; renowned violinist Midori Goto, Jascha Heifetz Chair in Violin and String Department Chair; and celebrated cellist Ralph Kirshbaum, Gregor Piatigorsky Chair in Violoncello.
The University of Southern California�s Flora L. Thornton School of Music, founded in 1884, is the oldest continuously operating cultural institution in Los Angeles. It consistently ranks among the top one percent of the nation�s music schools and conservatories, with a unique combination of innovative programs such as popular music performance, research, recording science, and scoring for motion pictures and television, as well as a long and illustrious tradition of classical music performance studies in all major instruments. Featuring a student/teacher ratio of 6:1 and blending the rigors of a traditional conservatory-style education with the benefits of studying at a leading research university, USC Thornton offers students an unparallel music education in a real-world context. Graduates consistently attain key positions with a multitude of major ensembles, recording studios and businesses in the music industry. In 1999, philanthropist Flora L. Thornton became the school’s benefactor with a naming gift of $25 million, at the time the largest such contribution to an American school of music.
USC Thornton currently enrolls 1,072 students from 40 countries, and its illustrious alumni and faculty have been awarded countless Grammy and Academy Awards and serve as leaders in all facets � artistic, technical and business � of the music industry. In addition to David Newman, the school�s celebrated alumni include acclaimed conductors Michael Tilson Thomas and Grant Gershon; opera stars Marilyn Horne, Rod Gilfry, Jessica Rivera and Erica Miller; pop music great Herb Albert; film score composers James Horner, Jerry Goldsmith and James Newton Howard; TV/film composer Bear McCreary; composer and Presidential Medal of the Arts recipient Morten Lauridsen; esteemed classical guitarist Christopher Parkening.
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