UM Regents approve new name - School of Music, Theatre & Dance

April 2006

By Joanne Nesbit
News Service

As the School of Music comes to the end of its 125th anniversary celebration year, it does so with a new drama center underway and a new name: the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance.

The Board of Regents March 17 approved the name—one that encompasses all three essential disciplines of the school. These programs continue U-M's heritage as a leading school of performing arts with internationally recognized faculty, world-renowned performance facilities and a diverse student population. The name will be effective July 1.

"For more than two decades Michigan has had, in practice, a School of Music, Theatre & Dance, with each artistic branch pursuing both applied and academic aspects," Dean Christopher Kendall said. "As we reach the end of our 125th anniversary celebration, we feel that this is the appropriate moment to change the name of the school, looking forward to a new century of collaborative and dynamic performing arts education at U-M."

Yet, this is not the first name change for the school that began in 1890 as the Ann Arbor School of Music, and in 1892 became the University School of Music under the umbrella of the University Musical Society. It was incorporated into U-M in 1929, and in 1940 became the U-M School of Music. By 1976, the Dance Department became a part of the school, followed by the addition of the Theatre Department in 1984.

Through its history, the school has been considered one of the finest for performing arts in the country, Kendall said. Such excellence allows the school to enroll more than 1,000 students and employ a faculty of 120 full-time and 20-30 part-time members and more than 70 staff. In a typical academic year, the school presents more than 400 concerts and recitals, 10 fully staged opera performances, musical theatre and dance productions, and numerous semi-staged workshop productions, master classes and lectures.

"While each part of the school is an entity with its own curriculum and focus, the nature of the work in all three areas is increasingly collaborative," Kendall said. "As theatrical and dance elements take on greater importance in musical endeavors, and as music plays a greater role in theatre, and as our students bring a greater appetite for collaborative art, this new name recognizes the fundamental importance of the three elements in the performing arts process."