It once ranked among the pre-eminent arts institutions in America, a conservatory that had trained no less than clarinetist Benny Goodman, pianist Ramsey Lewis and impresario Florenz Ziegfeld Jr.
With a revered faculty that included the towering classical pianists Rudolph Ganz (a colleague of Ravel and Stravinsky) and Arthur Friedheim (a student of Liszt), Chicago Musical College reigned as the Juilliard of the Midwest-several decades before Juilliard existed. And when CMC became a part of Roosevelt University in 1954, the celebrated conservatory seemed poised for continued greatness.
Alas, larger, more lavishly funded institutions such as Juilliard in New York and Indiana University’s School of Music eventually overshadowed CMC, and CMC’s glory days seemed confined to the history books.
But thanks to a daring merger of Chicago Musical College with other arts programs at Roosevelt, the enormous edifice at the corner of Michigan Avenue and Congress Boulevard appears to be thriving anew.
In 1997, Roosevelt created the College of Performing Arts, occupying three floors of the Auditorium Building. It brought CMC and the Theatre Program under one academic banner. No longer would music and theater students work in separate enclaves, nor would the school confine itself to the three Bs (Bach, Beethoven and Brahms). Today, jazz, swing and gospel music flourish alongside the classics, while stage musicals by Stephen Sondheim and Cole Porter receive as much scholarly attention and academic respect as anything by Verdi or Puccini.
The response from students around the world has been striking, with enrollment more than doubling in the last decade. Today, approximately 600 young artists from as near as the South Side and as far as suburban Tokyo converge on the famous building designed by Adler and Sullivan.
Whether Roosevelt and CMC ever recapture the stature of old remains to be seen, but there’s no question that the school is redefining the way the arts can be taught to emerging professionals.
Aspiring gospel singers, operatic divas, jazz improvisers, symphonic instrumentalists and Broadway babies routinely mix and mingle on the upper floors of Roosevelt seven days and nights a week. Walk through the halls, and you’ll hear the Roosevelt orchestra unspooling the plush harmonies of Ravel’s “Daphnis and Chloe,” the jazz band swinging hard on Sonny Rollins’ “Oleo,” the musical theater class taking on scenes from “Gypsy” and “Pal Joey.”
These are the sounds of a once great arts center reawakening after a period of relative dormancy.
“You have to remember that when the Chicago Musical College was at its most famous, Chicago had maybe a dozen conservatories-the world was a different place then,” says Earl Schub, acting dean of Roosevelt’s College of Performing Arts. “The question was how to reinvent a school for changing times.”
At Roosevelt, the strategy has been to offer courses and curricula unlike those at more tradition-bound institutions. Thus gospel singers receive full academic credit for studying a genre of music long overlooked in run-of-the-mill music schools, while intensive courses in cabaret, musical theater and other distinctly American musical genres defy the stereotype of the typical, European-focused arts school. Name another major music school, after all, that has an Art Tatum Professor of Jazz Studies (Ramsey Lewis) and blueprints to create a Frank Sinatra Chair in Modern American Music.
That Roosevelt University should embrace indigenous music seems perfectly appropriate. In the mid-20th Century, when other Chicago schools clung to quotas to keep minority enrollment down, Roosevelt famously threw open its doors to African-American talents such as author Dempsey Travis and pianist Dorothy Donegan. Both went on to achieve national acclaim for their work, thereby spreading the gospel of Roosevelt’s inclusive approach to academia.
“Like Roosevelt itself, I think the College of Performing Arts can be a unique institution for Chicago and for the country,” says Roosevelt president Theodore L. Gross, who recently announced that he will step down in 2001.
“We have a lot of new ideas here-and our location isn’t bad either.”
Indeed, the school’s proximity to Symphony Center, Lyric Opera, the emerging Loop Theater District and other downtown cultural resources is enviable. Further, Roosevelt is physically linked to the Auditorium Theatre, a renowned performance space it owns.
Though the school still is enmeshed in a court battle with the non-profit Auditorium Theatre Council for control of the celebrated theater, at the very least its physical connection to the Auditorium will forever endure. And should Roosevelt prevail in court, the school will operate the crown jewel of Chicago performance spaces.
Not even Juilliard can compete with that.
THE FUTURE: A NEW GENERATION
9th FLOOR CHICAGO MUSICAL COLLEGE
James Taylor, instructor, gospel music
“I strongly believe that when it comes to studying music, you need a lot more than just classical. I was a classical music major myself, but to be a real, rounded musician, you have to come to terms with jazz, blues, gospel, renaissance, really everything.
“The music department here took a chance on offering a gospel class for credit, in effect saying that studying gospel was as important as studying any other kind of music. Not many traditional music schools would do that kind of thing.”
8 TH FLOOR Musical theater
Angela Grovey, sophomore, musical theater
“It’s been a roller coaster here. When I came in my freshman year, there was a bad stage production of a show, and it left me with an uneasy feeling-it wasn’t a good thing to see, and it got me down. But the next year, we did a show that got great reviews in big college competitions.
“So I think we’re experimenting here with something new, and we’ll have to see what it becomes. But I believe this is an up-and-coming place, and in five years it’s going to be one of the most renowned arts schools in the country.”
7th FLOOR Theater program Ganz Hall, O’Malley Theater
Kim Carbon, first-year graduate student, orchestra
“As far as I know, hardly any school offers a degree in orchestral studies. Most schools offer [solo] performance degrees, but most string musicians end up playing in an orchestra. So that’s what you really need to learn about, and that’s what I’m studying here: I take seminars on audition techniques, injury prevention, playing orchestral excerpts for conductors, those kinds of practical experiences you need.
“And Roosevelt just isn’t as competitive and cold as the bigger and more famous music schools. That may not be a big deal to a lot of people, but it is to me.”
ROOSEVELT UNIVERSITY
Origins
Chicago Musical College was founded in 1867 by Florenz Ziegfeld, father of Broadway impresario Florenz Ziegfeld Jr.
Notable music faculty
Chicago Symphony Orchestra members Joseph Golan, John Sharp, Richard Graef, Alex Klein, Michael Henoch, Dale Clevenger and Mary Sauer; pianist Pawel Checinsky; jazz musicians Rob Parton, Ruben Alvarez and Jim Gailloretto; early music specialist David Schrader.
Notable theater faculty
Directors June Compton, Henry Godinez and Bruce Kirle; choreographer Lou Conte; cabaret artist Daniel Stetzel.
Music student demographics
From 19 states and 23 countries; 50 percent male, 50 percent female; 47 percent minority; 30 percent international.
Concerts
More than 140 a year, performed by the Chorus, Chamber Singers, Symphony, Wind Ensemble, Opera, Jazz Ensemble and Collegium Musicum, among others.
Theater student demographics
60 percent female, 40 percent male; 20 percent minority, 10 percent international.
THE FOUNDATION: Famous alums
Anthony Braxton, avant-garde saxophonist-composer l Dorothy Donegan, jazz pianist l Jay Friedman, CSO principal trombonist l Benny Goodman, clarinetist Edward Gordon, pianist and former Ravinia executive director l Donald Gramm, Metropolitan Opera principal bassist l Ramsey Lewis, jazz pianist William Mason, Lyric Opera executive director l Wanda Paul, Northwestern University professor of piano emeritus l Mary Sauer, CSO principal keyboardist Jeffrey Siegel, concert pianist l Alan Stone, Chicago Opera Theater founder and artistic director emeritus.
