100 Random Acts of Music!!

100 RAM's completed!!!

In honor of Sanborn Hall's 100th Anniversary, OWU's Department of Music celebrated 2009-2010 with 100 Random Acts of Music!

Events were Unscheduled and Unannounced and occurred throughout the Ohio Wesleyan campus and Delaware community. 

Celebrate Music, Celebrate Sanborn Hall, Celebrate Ohio Wesleyan!

The season-long 100 Random Acts of Music is COMPLETED......

all 100 RAM's have been performed!!

Click here to follow along with pictures of the 100 Random Acts of Music!

Best of the Best!!

Carpe Diem String Quartet's latest CD, featuring String Quartet No. 1 by Jonathan Leshnoff, was voted as one of Naxos' Best of the Best list for 2009!

During 2009, hundreds of Naxos recordings gained top reviews around the world and were featured on their monthly Critics’ Choice pages. This month they presented the 40 Naxos CDs which were featured most frequently as Critics’ Choices throughout the year.

For additional information regarding CDSQ's latest CD, click here!

Department of Music receives $800,000 estate gift

from former Music Faculty member Richard Strasburg

Ohio Wesleyan University today announced the receipt of an estate gift from former Music Department faculty member Richard Strasburg.

Professor Strasburg's bequest of more than $800,000 will be used to create the Richard W. Strasburg Endowed Music Merit Scholarship Fund in his memory. Strasburg scholarships will be awarded beginning in fall 2010 to first-year students majoring in music. Recipients will be eligible to renew the Strasburg awards for three additional years as per the Music Department's scholarship guidelines.

An accomplished concert pianist, Strasburg taught at Ohio Wesleyan from 1956 until his retirement in 1983. In addition to holding degrees from Oberlin College, the University of Southern California, and Florida State University, Strasburg studied at Les Ecoles D’Art Americaines at Fontainebleau, France, and at Ecole Normale in Paris. A longtime resident of Delaware, Ohio, Strasburg died in April 2008.

“Richard Strasburg was an influential teacher for so many Ohio Wesleyan piano students and an incredibly gifted pianist,” said Cameron Bennett, D.M.A., chair of the OWU Department of Music. “His generous gift to fund a significant music merit scholarship highlights his devotion to Ohio Wesleyan. Future generations of talented music majors will benefit from this generous gift and ensure that Professor Strasburg’s legacy will live on at Sanborn Hall.”

The Department of Music announces

the opening of the newly renovated

McMullen Electro Acoustic Music Studio (MEAMS)

With the opening of  the newly renovated McMullen Electro Acoustic Music Studio (MEAMS),  students now have the opportunity to learn the fundamentals of electo acoustic music composition.  The studio, located in Sanborn Hall, is overseen by Assistant Professor of Composition, Music Theory and Electronic Music, Dr. Jason Bahr. The MEAMS has the latest in digital audio editing technology.  In the studio, students can create new electro-acoustic music compositions, master compact discs (CDs) or add music to film.  The MEAMS is a Mac-based environment that boasts an incredible 2.5 terabytes of hard drive space.  "We have tried to build a studio that is both flexible and powerful," says Dr. Jason Bahr, the MEAMS director.  "It is an exciting time for our department and students across the
campus."  Students learn the basics of acoustics, musical instrument digital interface (MIDI) technology, and digital audio through MUS229 Introduction to Electronic Music Composition.  They also work hands on with the equipment in their own three-hour block of studio time each week.  This course culminates in final projects that are original compositions.  Students may continue work in the studio through an independent study.

Dr. Thomas Carto founded the MEAMS in 1989 through a generous bequest of Marie McMullen.  The times have changed, but the mission remains the same: to broaden the resources of music technology at OWU so that students and faculty members may explore, learn and create.

Naxos CD release: Carpe Diem String Quartet

Naxos has released the complete String Quartets (Vol. 1) of Sergey Taneyev by the Carpe Diem String Quartet, OWU's Ensemble-in-Residence.

Music at OWU featured on Connect2OWU!

Read all about the music events at Ohio Wesleyan on Connect2OWU:

http://connect2.owu.edu/issues/20080730/newsAndViews/opera.html

http://connect2.owu.edu/issues/20080206/newsAndViews/musicOfOurTime.html

http://connect2.owu.edu/issues/20080206/ourTown/artZine.html

http://connect2.owu.edu/issues/20071128/newsAndViews/performanceFaculty.html

http://connect2.owu.edu/issues/20071010/ourTown/choralArtSociety.html