School Buildings In its earlier Days, the Bienen School of Music was housed in two buildings. The Music Administration Building was designed by
Gurdon P. Randall and built in 1873 as the Women's College of Northwestern University. In 1901 it was named for
Frances E. Willard, and served as a women's dormitory. It became the home of the Northwestern School of Music in 1940, and was renovated in 1988. Vocal studies, piano, and composition departments were housed in this building, in addition to administrative offices and academic classrooms. The organ department, which formerly occupied a wing in this building, was controversially closed in 2003. Regenstein Hall of Music was built in 1977. This building sits on the
"Lakefill" and overlooks
Lake Michigan. It houses studios for the instrumental and conducting programs, practice rooms, a rehearsal room, and a recital hall. In February 2008, the University announced that a new $105 million five-story building was to be erected as part of a renovation plan for the southeast corner of the campus. Construction began in June 2012. The new building, named after donors Patrick G. and Shirley W. Ryan, opened in Fall 2015. The building unites all music faculty and departments in a common location for the first time since the early 1970s and includes classrooms, teaching labs, teaching studios, practice rooms, student lounges, a choral rehearsal room and library, an opera rehearsal room and black box theater, and a 400-seat recital hall.
Performance Venues Patrick G. and Shirley W. Ryan Center for the Musical Arts Designed by Chicago-based architectural firm Goettsch Partners, the music building is situated on the lakefront, connected to Regenstein Hall of Music. The Ryan Center houses teaching studios, faculty and administrative offices, 10 classrooms, 99 practice rooms, and three performance spaces: the Mary B. Galvin Recital Hall, the David and Carol McClintock Choral and Recital Room, and the Shirley Welsh Ryan Opera Theater. The design features a limestone base supporting a primarily glass exterior.
Ryan Center Performance Spaces •
Mary B. Galvin Recital Hall. This 400-seat hall, with main floor and balcony seating, features a 40-foot glass wall. Walls on each side of the hall are made from undulating wood, covered by African moabi wood, providing optimal acoustics. John van Rein of the Chicago Tribune named Galvin Hall the "most impressive new Chicago concert facility" in 2015. •
David and Carol McClintock Choral and Recital Room. This is a 120-seat performance space for choral rehearsals, small ensemble performances, and student recitals. The walls are paneled with the same moabi wood as the Mary B. Galvin Recital Hall •
Shirley Welsh Ryan Opera Theater. This 163-seat hall is a theater space for opera performances and recitals, with double-height ceilings. Waukegan Steel Company provided steel beams, catwalks, and stairs for the space. The retractable seating was designed and constructed in the UK.
Pick-Staiger Concert Hall Designed by
Edward D. Dart and dedicated in 1975, the
Pick-Staiger Concert Hall's 1,000-seat venue is the main performance space not only for the Bienen School but for the university as a whole.
Additional Performance Spaces •
Regenstein Hall of Music. The building connects directly to the new Ryan Center for the Musical Arts, with two connections between the buildings on each of Regenstein's three levels. It is home to the Department of Music Performance and University Bands faculty and contains 38 practice rooms. The building also includes a 200-seat Master Class Room (also known as "MCR"), which hosts hundreds of performances and events annually. •
Cahn Auditorium. Located in Scott Hall (1940), this 1,000-seat venue is the only space on campus with a full orchestra pit and is used primarily for operatic productions. •
Alice Millar Chapel & Religious Center. Built in 1962, this
neo-Gothic church in stone and brick houses a 100-rank
Aeolian-Skinner organ and is used for choral, mixed ensemble performances, concerts, lectures, and recitals. The building houses two chapels: the Millar Chapel with 700 seats, and the Vail Chapel with 125 seats. An adjacent building, Parkes Hall, houses classrooms and the chaplain's office, and completes the Alice Millar complex. The building was a gift to Northwestern University from Mr. and Mrs. McGaw. Mrs. McGaw was a graduate of Northwestern, and Mr. McGaw served for many years as a trustee of the university. •
Lutkin Hall. Built in 1941 and named for the first dean of the Music School, Peter Lutkin, this 400-seat hall was used primarily as a recital space. It ceased to be a Bienen School performance space in 2015, with the opening of the Ryan Center for the Musical Arts, and is now operated by the
Norris University Center.
Music Library Founded in 1945, the Northwestern University Music Library occupies the second floor of the
Charles Deering Library and serves the Bienen School of Music.
Notable alumni •
Christopher M. Anderson ('96) – Director,
Goin' Band from Raiderland; associate director of bands; associate professor of music,
Texas Tech University School of Music •
Andrew Bird ('95) – Musician, songwriter •
Mark Camphouse ('75) – Professor of music and director of the Wind Symphony,
George Mason University •
Kay Davis ('42) – Singer with Duke Ellington band •
Rollo Dilworth ('03) – Chair of Music Education and Music Therapy at Boyer College of Music and Dance at
Temple University • Eric Garcia ('02, '07) – Music director of the Boise Philharmonic •
Giancarlo Guerrero (G '92) music director,
Nashville Symphony • Jeff Cline ('95) – Audio engineer, producer, Music Industry Division Head at the
University of Memphis •
Nancy Gustafson (G' 80) soprano •
Howard Hanson ('17) – Composer, president of
Eastman School of Music •
Sheldon Harnick ('49) – Lyricist for musicals, including Fiddler on the Roof •
David Hattner ('90) – Musical Director,
Portland Youth Philharmonic •
D. Antoinette Handy ('53) – flautist, music scholar •
Brian Hecht – Bass Trombone,
Atlanta Symphony •
Timothy Higgins – Principal Trombone,
San Francisco Symphony •
Han Kuo-Huang ('74) – Ethno-musicologist, musician • Dan Novak ('89) – Director of the Patrick G. and Shirley W. Ryan Opera Center at the
Lyric Opera of Chicago •
Will James ('04)- Principal percussion,
St. Louis Symphony •
Andrew Mason ('03) – Founder and former CEO,
Groupon •
Sherrill Milnes ('56) – Opera singer, Northwestern professor emeritus •
Toby Oft – Principal Trombone,
Boston Symphony Orchestra •
George N. Parks – Director,
University of Massachusetts Minuteman Marching Band •
Mary Beth Peil ('62) – Actress who has starred in The Stepford Wives and Jersey Girl •
Jenny Powers ('03) – Actress • Howard Reich ('77) Arts writer,
Chicago Tribune •
Steve Rodby ('77) – Grammy Award-winning jazz bassist; album producer •
Ned Rorem ('44) – Composer •
Arnie Roth ('75) – Grammy Award-winning music director and principal conductor, Chicagoland Pops Orchestra •
David Sanborn ('67) – Jazz saxophonist •
Greg Suran ('93) – Acoustic and electric guitarist with
B-52s •
Frederick Swann – Organist, composer and past President of the
American Guild of Organists •
Augusta Read Thomas ('87) – Composer and university professor,
University of Chicago • Mallory Thompson – Director of Bands, Northwestern University; see
Northwestern University Wildcat Marching Band • William VerMeulen- Principal horn, Houston Symphony & professor of horn,
Rice University •
Ralph Votapek ('60) Pianist • William "Ring" Warner (early 1970's)- Principal Double Bass, Phoenix and Dallas Symphonies, and Pacific Northwest Ballet Orchestra •
Donald Reid Womack ('90, '93) – Composer and Professor, University of Hawaii ==References==