www.colburnschool.edu/fortissima
(Wednesday, May 15, 2024, Los Angeles) – The Colburn School, a renowned performing arts school based in Los Angeles, today announced the 2024 cohort of its Fortissima program. Housed under Colburn’s Center for Innovation and Community Impact, Fortissima is an artistic and leadership development program for female-identifying high school-age participants from underrepresented minorities in classical music or who have a socioeconomic disadvantage. Selected participants demonstrate excellence on an orchestral instrument and have an interest in pursuing a career in music.
Fortissima’s innovative leadership curriculum, paired with rigorous artistic development and one-on-one mentorship, is designed to inspire, equip, and empower the Fellows to pursue professional training and careers in the classical music field. Now a national model, Fortissima is a six-month experience, April – September 2024, for 8 young women that will consist of two components: an online leadership curriculum with one-on-one mentorship and a week-long residential intensive on the Colburn campus, May 19 – May 25, 2024. All participants receive full scholarships which cover tuition as well as room and board while on campus.
The curriculum and mentorship are tailored to participants’ unique perspectives and provide specialized approaches to both personal and professional development. During their time on campus, these newly acquired skills will be put into practice in a deeply engaging residency that provides opportunities to explore all facets of artistry, including performance, the conservatory experience, and career development.
As a capstone to their on-campus intensive, the Fortissima Fellows will perform a program on Friday, May 24 featuring works by female-identifying and BIPOC composers curated by Jannina Norpoth, Fortissima Music Director and member of PUBLIQuartet. The concert is free, no tickets required, and will be livestreamed at colburnschool.edu/livestream.
The 2024 Fortissima Fellows are:
Felicia Adizue, 17-year-old violinist from Knightdale, NC.
Felicia identifies as Nigerian/Taiwanese American. She currently attends the University of North Carolina School of the Arts High School. In 2023, she attended the Brevard Summer Institute and was a part of the El-Sistema USA National Symposium Youth Ambassador Cohort.
Kai Isoke Ali-Landing, 17-year-old violinist from Melbourne, FL.
Kai Isoke identifies as African American and is homeschooled. In 2023, she attended the Sphinx Performance Academy and the Heifetz International Music Institute.
Ryannah Blackman, 18-year-old violinist from Washington Township, NJ.
Ryannah identifies as Black and is a student at Camden County Technical Schools. She is a current member of the Philadelphia Youth Orchestra and participated in the Sphinx Performance Academy and the NJ All-State Orchestra in 2023.
Merilyn Delgado Gameros, 16-year-old tuba player from La Puente, CA.
Merilyn identifies and Hispanic/Latina and is a student at the California School of the Arts. She is a Herbert Zipper Scholar at the Colburn Community School of Performing Arts and plays in the Colburn Concert Band, Wind Ensemble, and Chamber Ensemble.
Gabrielle Diaz-Alcantara, 17-year-old violinist from Stamford, CT.
Gabrielle identifies as Hispanic and is a student at Hackley School. She is currently in the Manhattan School of Music Precollege Program and recently attended the Boston University Tanglewood Institute and Sphinx Performance Academy.
Kendall Gonzales, 16-year-old cellist from Greensboro, NC.
Kendall identifies as Afro-Latina and attends the Manhattan School of Music Precollege Program. She attended the National Symphony Orchestra Summer Music Institute in 2023 and recently participated in NPR’s 2024 From the Top, Daily Joy.
Tess Reed, 17-year-old violinist from Manvel, TX.
Tess identifies as African American and is a student at Kinder High School for the Performing and Visual Arts. She is the current concertmaster for the Kinder HSPVA Symphony Orchestra, recently served as Stage Manager for Kinder HSPVA’s production of The Wiz and has been a member of the National Honor Society since 2022.
Abigail Regua, 18-year-old violinist from Idyllwild, CA.
Abigail identifies as African/Asian American and is a student at the Idyllwild Arts Academy. In 2023, she attended the Sphinx Performance Academy, the Boston University Tanglewood Institute Young Artists program, and is a Sphinx 2023 MPower Artist.
Fortissima program overview:
From April 2024 to September 2024, participants will attend monthly meetings with a distinguished mentor and receive bi-monthly leadership and career development training sessions.
Participants will convene for a week-long residential intensive on the Colburn School campus from May 19 – May 25, 2024. Throughout the week, students will experience conservatory life first-hand, including trial lessons with Colburn faculty, Conservatory class observations, and access to Colburn facilities. Students will have the opportunity to explore the arts in Los Angeles by attending concerts on the Grand Avenue cultural corridor in Downtown Los Angeles and will learn from local arts leaders spearheading innovation in the field. Panels and workshops on topics such as navigating the world of classical music as a woman or a woman of color, wellness, self-care, personal development, conservatory audition and admissions processes, presentation skills, professional materials, and career development strategies will also be attended by students. Additionally, they will receive artistic development opportunities by learning and performing works by BIPOC, women, and living composers; chamber music coaching from Music Director Jannina Norpoth as well as Colburn School and visiting faculty; and give a culminating performance in Colburn School’s Thayer Hall. At the conclusion of the program, students will gain access to ongoing alumni programming.
Fortissima began as a local pilot program in 2017 and featured a cohort of six young women from Los Angeles. Those young women are now pursuing studies in music and other disciplines at schools such as Oberlin, Stanford, and UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music. Findings from the pilot program informed the new model which will expand the program to recruit nationally and serve more students each year.
Fortissima Program Leadership
Fortissima Mentors
Full Bios for Leadership and Mentors available here
The national Fortissima program is made possible through the generous support of The Tippet Rise Fund of the Sidney E. Frank Foundation, Visionary Women, Raulee Marcus, Beverly Ryder, and the many donors who support our Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion initiatives at the Colburn School.
About the Colburn School
A performing arts institution located in the heart of Los Angeles, the Colburn School trains students from beginners to those about to embark on professional careers. The academic units of the School provide a complete spectrum of music and dance education united by a single philosophy: that all who desire to study music or dance should have access to top-level instruction.
Each year, more than 2,000 students from around the world come to Colburn to benefit from the renowned faculty, exceptional facilities, and focus on excellence that unites the community.
The Colburn School recently broke ground on the Frank Gehry-designed Colburn Center, a multi-faceted campus expansion of the Colburn School. Located across the street from the School’s existing campus at the intersection of Olive and Second Streets, the Colburn Center will enable the School to expand its mission of presenting programs for the public. Gehry’s design includes a 1,000-seat in-the-round concert hall named Terri and Jerry Kohl Hall, five professional-sized dance studios including a 100-seat studio theater, and gardens that bring fresh air and green spaces to the downtown landscape.
Social Media Facebook.com/colburnschool Instagram and Twitter: @ColburnSchool YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/colburnschoollosangeles
Contact: Lisa Bellamore lbellamore@gmail.com 323-500-3071
Jennifer Kallend jkallend@colburnschool.edu 215-622-6195
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(Monday, May 13, 2024, Los Angeles)–Colburn School’s Trio Azura—Conservatory of Music students Duncan McDougall, violin, Yejin Hong, cello, and Yanfeng (Tony) Bai, piano—won the Grand Prize Medal ($15,000 award) in the 51st annual Fischoff Competition. They also won the Gold Medal ($5,000 award) in the Senior String Division, the Lift Every Voice Prize ($1,500) for the best performance of a work by a historically underrepresented composer within the chamber music world, and the Horszowski Trio Prize for Piano Trio ($600 award), Senior Division. As Grand Prize winners, Trio Azura will also participate in the Emilia Romagna Festival in Italy next summer.
Colburn School’s Trio de Ángeles—Music Academy students Esme Arias-Kim, violin, Angela Rose Padula, cello, and Caden Lin, piano—won the Horszowski Trio Prize for Piano Trio ($300 award), Junior Division. Winners of the Horszowski Trio Prize are also invited to work with the Horszowski Trio, a vital force in the international chamber music world, at the Mimir Chamber Music Festival, held at the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth, Texas, July 1–12, 2024.
Trio Azura and Trio de Ángeles were two of four Colburn School ensembles selected from a total of 59 ensembles from around the world to compete in the competition. The Corda Quartet—Community School students Andres Engleman, violin, Sarah Yang, violin, Joshua Chae, viola and Irene Choung, cello—competed in the Junior Division, as did the Willow Quartet—Music Academy students James Birch, violin, Henry Woodruff, viola, Shinah (Sheena) Youn, cello and David Choi, piano.
The 51st Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition was held May 10-12, 2024, at the DeBartolo Performing Arts Center at the University of Notre Dame.
Trio Azura was founded in 2022 at the Colburn Conservatory of Music in Los Angeles. Violinist Duncan McDougall, cellist Yejin Hong, and pianist Yanfeng (Tony) Bai study with renowned faculty Martin Beaver, Clive Greensmith, and Fabio Bidini. In 2023, Trio Azura participated in the Accademia Musicale Chigiana in Siena, Italy, where they were awarded the “Rotary Club Siena” prize and performed in recital with Clive Greensmith. Trio Azura was also selected to participate in the 2023 ARD International Music Competition and received praise from German audiences. Individually, they have won numerous accolades. Despite being formed only recently, Trio Azura has quickly built incredible chemistry and has developed a comprehensive repertoire. They have participated in masterclasses with internationally acclaimed artists including pianists Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Orion Weiss, and Pedja Mužijević; violinist Arnaud Sussman; and cellist Nicholas Tzavaras.
Founded in 1973 in South Bend, Indiana, USA, the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition has grown to become the largest chamber music competition in the world, and one of the most prestigious classical music prizes attainable today. Since its founding, more than 7,400 musicians have competed, many of whom have gone on to distinguished careers in music performance and education, including Indiana native and three-time Grammy Award-winner, violinist Joshua Bell, the genre-defying contemporary ensemble Eighth Blackbird, and the Pacifica Quartet, 2020 Grammy Award Winner for Best Chamber Music Performance. The Fischoff distinguishes itself from all other music competitions by remaining true to its core mission: to encourage and educate young musicians in the discipline and expression of chamber music.
About the Colburn School A performing arts institution located in the heart of Los Angeles, the Colburn School trains students from beginners to those about to embark on professional careers. The academic units of the School provide a complete spectrum of music and dance education united by a single philosophy: that all who desire to study music or dance should have access to top-level instruction.
The Colburn Center, designed by Frank Gehry, is a multi-faceted campus expansion of the Colburn School. Located across the street from the School’s existing campus at the intersection of Olive and Second Streets, the Colburn Center will enable the School to expand its mission of presenting programs for the public. Gehry’s design includes a 1,000-seat in-the-round concert hall named Terri and Jerry Kohl Hall, five professional-sized dance studios including a 100-seat studio theater, and gardens that bring fresh air and green spaces to the downtown landscape. The Colburn School broke ground on the Colburn Center on April 5, 2024. The completed project will join Gehry’s Walt Disney Concert Hall and The Grand complex to create the largest concentration of buildings designed by the architect in the world.
Contact: Jennifer Kallend jkallend@colburnschool.edu 215-622-6195
Lisa Bellamore lbellamore@gmail.com 323-500-3071
Housed under Colburn’s Center for Innovation and Community Impact, Fortissima is an artistic and leadership development program for female-identifying high school-age participants from underrepresented minorities in classical music or who have a socioeconomic disadvantage. Fortissima’s innovative leadership curriculum, paired with rigorous artistic development and one-on-one mentorship, is designed to inspire, equip, and empower the Fellows to pursue professional training and careers in the classical music field. All participants receive full scholarships which cover tuition as well as room and board while on campus.
Jannina Norpoth
Grammy-nominated violinist Jannina Norpoth made her debut as a soloist with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra at age 14. Since then she has built a career as an innovative collaborative artist with a passion for contemporary music, genre bending and improvisation, a sought after arranger and orchestrator, and an advocate for a more inclusive and versatile landscape in classical music.
Her string quartet, PUBLIQuartet, is recognized for unique and genre inclusive programming, earning them the 2019 Visionary Artist Award from Chamber Music America, 2015 Adventurous Programming Award from ASCAP and Chamber Music America and New Music/ New Places Prize at the 2013 Concert Artist’s Guild Competition.
Ms. Norpoth has performed internationally, including appearances at the Women of the World Festival at The Apollo Theater, Detroit Art X Festival, Montreux Detroit Jazz Festival, Mostly Mozart Festival, Great Lakes Chamber Music Festival, Saturday Night Live, VH1’s Save the Music, IFC’s Dinner with the Band, and Ecstatic Music Festival at Merkin Hall. As a soloist she has performed with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Birmingham Bloomfield Symphony, Casalmaggiore International Chamber Ensemble, Ensemble 212, and Bachanalia Chamber Orchestra. Most recently during COVID-19 she has been a featured virtual performer for digital performances from The Kennedy Center, The Library of Congress and Living Music with Nadia Sirota.
She has been a featured performer alongside such acclaimed musicians as James Carter, Nadia Sirota, Regina Carter, Itzhak Perlman, Daniel Bernard Roumain (DBR), Helga Davis, Marcus Belgrave, Dave Young, Mike Garson, A. Spencer Barefield, Jay – Z, Beyoncé, Anita Baker, Sheila E., Boys II Men, Dionne Warwick, My Brightest Diamond, Alexi Murdoch, and many others.
Praised by Strad Magazine for her ability to write a transcription “so natural sounding that it could have been the composer’s original version.” Ms. Norpoth is a sought after arranger both in the classical and non-classical worlds. Recent commissions include Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, St. Louis Symphony, Sphinx Virtuosi, Trinity Wall Street and the Volcano Theatre Company’s new adaptation of Scott Joplin’s “Treemonisha”.
Ms. Norpoth lives in Bedford Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, with her husband John-Paul and their puggle Vegas. Upcoming projects include the world premiere of a new adaptation of Scott Joplin’s Opera Treemonisha, featuring a collaborative orchestration with composer Jessie Montgomery and commissioned by Volcano: an experimental theatre company based in Toronto, as well as a duo recording of Prokofiev’s Sonatas for violin and piano with pianist Maria Meirelles.
Titilayo Ayangade
With over two decades on the cello, Titilayo Ayangade has gracefully navigated classical music’s landscape. A recent recipient of the Chamber Music America Artistic Projects grant, as the cellist of Duo Kayo, Titilayo continues her history of excellence in chamber music preceded by awards at Fischoff and tours spanning China to Brazil.
Titilayo is a passionate educator, coaching chamber music at New York Youth Symphony, various summer festivals, and she is also a 2024 Lift Every Voice Juror at the Fischoff Chamber Music Competition. In Spring of 2024, Titilayo was awarded the Sphinx MPower Artist grant, to record and release a newly commissioned work by Curtis Stewart.
This season features collaborations with the Sphinx Virtuosi, Minnesota Orchestra, Orchestra of St. Lukes, and performances on stages at MAD Museum, Caramoor, Newport Classical, Lincoln Center, and more. Titilayo champions BIPOC musicians through commissioning new works, research and performance, advocating for an inclusive musical tapestry. Off-stage, she’s a successful portrait photographer, crafting vibrant and colorful images with Grammy-nominated musicians and creatives from all arenas. Explore her journey at www.titilayoandco.com.
Chanell Crichlow
Chanell Crichlow is a composer and multi-instrumentalist based in Los Angeles, California. Known for her lush sound and vibrant compositions, she has received praise from esteemed publications such as Flaunt Magazine and Downbeat Magazine.
In 2021, Chanell had the honor of being selected as a Sundance Composers Lab Fellow, where she had the opportunity to collaborate closely with accomplished Film and Television composers to refine her craft. Recently, she also completed a residency at MASS MoCA in North Adams, Massachusetts, and was one of the Sundance Institute’s Art of Practice Fellows.
Their music has graced several remarkable projects, including the co-scoring of HBO’s “The Ringleader: The Case of the Bling Ring”, a documentary on Rachel Lee, the so-called teenage mastermind behind a string of high-profile celebrity robberies directed by Erin Lee Carr, “My Fake Boyfriend” (Prime Video), a queer romantic comedy directed by Rose Troche, and “How Not To Date While Trans,” directed by Nyala Moon, which received the Grand Jury Prize at NewFest and Best Short Film at Bendigo Queer Film Festival and Translations Film Festival. Chanell also scored Nyala’s latest film, “Dilating for Maximum Results,” which was honored with the Grand Jury Prize for Outstanding U.S. Narrative Short at Outfest.
Beyond the film world, Chanell’s melodies have found their way into popular podcasts, as she created the theme music for Crooked Media’s “Work Appropriate” with host Anne Helen Petersen, Audiation’s “Gender Spiral” hosted by Ally Beardsley and Babette Thomas and most recently, Duolingo’s “The Secret Life of Josephine Baker” with host Ariana DeBose. She also had the honor of composing the 2024 WNCAA (March Madness) Tournament Theme for ESPN which underscored the highly anticipated and most viewed college basketball games of all time.
Karla Donehew Perez
Admired for her “luscious melodies” (New York Concert Review) and enlightened programming, violinist Karla Donehew Perez is a founding member of the GRAMMY-winning Catalyst Quartet as well as an acclaimed soloist, educator, and creative collaborator with numerous world-class artists and ensembles. Among her many honors, she has earned top prizes in the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition and the Sphinx Competition. She is currently a professor of violin studies at the Longy School of Music of Bard College.
With the Catalyst Quartet, Karla has toured widely in the U.S. and abroad. Their recording projects include Uncovered, a series highlighting historically important Black composers, and the 2017 GRAMMY-winning album Dreams and Daggers with Cecile McLorin Salvant. The quartet is currently Ensemble-in-Residence at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
As a soloist, Karla has appeared with the Berkeley Symphony, Sacramento Philharmonic, San Francisco Chamber Orchestra, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, Cincinnati Symphony, Bogotá Philharmonic Orchestra, Puerto Rico Symphony Orchestra, New World Symphony, and Sphinx Symphony and Chamber Orchestras, among others. As a chamber musician, she has performed with ensembles including Orpheus Chamber Orchestra and East Coast Chamber Orchestra (ECCO), and collaborated with such artists as Joshua Bell, Anthony McGill and Fredericka Von Stade. She has served as guest concertmaster at the Tucson Symphony and spent two years as a fellow at the New World Symphony.
An avid teacher and mentor, Karla has taken part in residencies and masterclasses Kennedy Center, New York Philharmonic, and multiple collegiate music programs. She also performs at numerous major music festivals.
Besides her Catalyst Quartet recordings, Karla performs on Strum (Azica Records), a collection of works by Jessie Montgomery; and Bandoneón y Cuerdas, a collaborative album with JP Jofre. She recently recorded the solo violin music for Mosaic, a method anthology highlighting artists from underrepresented communities.
Born in Puerto Rico, Karla earned Bachelor’s and Master’s Degrees from the Cleveland Institute of Music.
Lady Jess
Lady Jess performs and records extensively in New York and Los Angeles. As a soloing member of Beyoncé’s band, she toured with the superstar and her husband, Jay-Z in 2018 for On The Run II tour, recording and arranging with the Carters for their Grammy-nominated album Everything Is Love in 2019, after appearing in the Emmy-nominated Netflix documentary Homecoming. She is a 2020 winner of the UNCSA Artpreneur of the Year award, 2020 Sphinx MPower grant recipient, and 2021-22 fellow at The Hermitage Artist Retreat, where she debuted her suite for solo violin and electronics, Ophelia. She has been a guest speaker and panelist for the League of American Orchestras, Gateways Music Festival, Sphinx Organization, University of NC School of the Arts, Apollo Theater and more. Jess made her Broadway debut at Sweeney Todd, and is currently in the orchestra at The Great Gatsby.
A regular session musician, Lady Jess was concertmaster and contractor for the Oscar nominated film Judas and The Black Messiah. Additional film score credits include: The Lion King, Da 5 Bloods, Space Jam, Creed, and more. In New York, she performs with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, American Composers Orchestra and the New York Pops. In 2021, she toured with the Sphinx Virtuosi. In 2023, she made her solo debut at the BRIC Celebrate Brooklyn Festival with the Chelsea Symphony, and as guest concertmaster at Chicago Lyric Opera for the premiere of Will Liverman’s opera The Factotum.
Artist collaborations include: Stevie Wonder, Chloe X Halle, Black Coffee, Will Liverman, Black Thought, Solange, Max Richter, Carrie Mae Weems, Terrence Blanchard, Alicia Keys, et al. Lady Jess released a premiere recording of music by Florence Price on the Naxos label with pianist Ric’key Pageot in 2021, is a featured artist on Will Liverman’s 2023 release, The Dunbar/Moore Sessions, featuring original art songs set to the text of Paul Lawrence Dunbar and Dorothy Moore, along with a 2024 release of new music alongside baritone Will Liverman, and featuring soprano Renee Fleming.
As a capstone to their on-campus intensive, the 2024 Fortissima Fellows will perform a concert on Friday, May 24 featuring works by female-identifying and BIPOC composers curated by Jannina Norpoth. The performance is free, no tickets required, and will be livestreamed at colburnschool.edu/livestream.
This year’s Fortissima residential intensive at the Colburn School closes with a lively performance of works by female and BIPOC composers, curated and directed by Jannina Norpoth, Fortissima Music Director and member of PUBLIQuartet. This performance will be livestreamed.
JORDYN DAVIS “Stand Up (for Breonna Taylor)” JESSIE MONTGOMERY Musings for Two Violins, VI. Vivo ANAÏS MAVIEL La Púyala Muntá
Colburn Dance Academy, Ballet, and Modern Dance students close the year with a culminating performance showcasing their growth and artistry. The choreography has been carefully selected to feature the extraordinary accomplishments of our dancers.
Salient Sea Choreography by Tamsin Carlson
The Four Seasons Choreography by Tamsin Carlson
Lost and Not Found Choreography by Yuka Fukuda
The Rats of Nimh Choreography by Tamsin Carlson
Mozart Movements: A Melodic Progression of Ballet Levels from Beginner Through Advanced
Beginning Pointe Barre Rondo Choreography by Robyn Gardenhire
Le Début Choreography by Kelly Ann Sloan
German Dance Choreography by Kelly Ann Sloan
La Société des Jeunes Messieurs Choreographery by Seth Belliston
A Distinguished Diagonal Choreography by Kelly Ann Sloan
The Hierophants’ Lux Choreography by Katherine Cowgill
Allegretto Pointe Variations Choreography by Robyn Gardenhire and Kelly Ann Sloan
Trú Choreography by Michael Montgomery
Join world famous tap dancer, Sarah Reich and her esteemed faculty for the Tap Music Project Intensive 10 year anniversary celebration! Students will collaborate with professional musicians studying music theory, improvisation, and choreography while writing original music accompanied by a music video shoot.
Program Overview
Dates: July 1 to 6
Tap Music Project Juniors: Intermediate/Advanced students aged 8 to 14
Monday to Friday: 11 am to 4:30 pm Saturday: 1 pm to 5 pm
Tuition: $500
Learn more and register
Tap Music Project Supremes and Supremes Level 2: Intermediate/Advanced students aged 13 to 35
Monday to Saturday: 11 am to 6 pm
Tuition: $680
Tap Music Project Teachers: For adult teachers
Monday to Friday: 2 pm to 6 pm Saturday: 2 pm to 5 pm
Summer Dance Camps Los Angeles
Experience the joy of learning at Colburn School’s summer group classes. Discover the perfect opportunity to explore our acclaimed music, performing arts, and dance programs, suitable for ages 7 months to adults. Dive into a variety of group classes, from piano to ballet, and see firsthand why Colburn is renowned for excellence in arts education. With our summer sessions, you can sample different disciplines and find the perfect fit before committing to our year-long classes in the fall. Unleash your potential this summer at Colburn School.
Sing, move, and play through a specially designed curriculum which supports cognitive, creative, and social development.
Ages 7 months–6 years
Register Now
Build confidence and be inspired to take creative risks in a program featuring improvisation, body movement, theatre games, monologues, scene work, script analysis, and character development.
Ages 5–16
Beginners can learn the fundamentals of technique and develop musical literacy in a supportive group setting.
Ages 5–12 and 18+
Engage and grow with diverse learning and performance options, including ensemble participation, private lessons, and music fundamentals for supporting children’s education.
Ages 18+
Join other experienced jazz musicians to explore various styles of jazz repertoire, theory, and approaches to improvisation. All instruments, including strings and vocalists, are welcome!
A four-week singing-based intensive designed to enhance and support instrumental and vocal study through active engagement and kinesthetic exploration.
All ages
Existing students can join us for four Saturdays beginning June 29 to keep up their training over the summer, and new students are welcome to register for this four-week program to try out classes before registering for the fall semester. Classes include:
Creative Dance I and II
Pre-Ballet
Ballet Prep I and II
Beginning Ballet
Modern I and II
Tap I, II, and Beginning Teen Tap
Students from the Ed and Mari Edelman Chamber Music Institute perform dazzling chamber works.
The Business of Dreams
Richard D. Colburn, the School’s benefactor, had long dreamed of a small, tuition-free conservatory where young artists pursued music at the highest level. For this conservatory to succeed and become the West Coast’s answer to schools like Curtis and Juilliard, Mr. Colburn believed faculty must lead the way. Three faculty currently teaching at the Colburn School were on his radar: Yehuda Gilad (clarinet), Ron Leonard (cello), and Robert Lipsett (violin). Their students were engaging with music at an extraordinarily high level, which profoundly moved Mr. Colburn, who had never experienced this depth of teaching when he was a young violist. “He melted,” Gilad says, reflecting on Mr. Colburn’s reaction whenever he, Leonard, and Lipsett talked about their students. “He would literally be reduced to tears hearing about my students’ successes and challenges,” says Lipsett. “I just saw that deep connection with wanting students to study great music if that was what they wanted.”
However, Mr. Colburn wasn’t ready to bank on what his heart wanted; he was a businessman and needed to be convinced he was making the right investment. Enter Executive Director Toby Mayman who fought tirelessly alongside Dean Joseph Thayer to convince Mr. Colburn that his concept for a conservatory aligned with the School’s, and that it would be done in the best way possible. When it came to closing the deal, Gilad calls Mayman “the architect” and Thayer “the engineer.”
Shortly after the Colburn School moved to Grand Avenue, Mr. Colburn pledged $165 million to endow a future conservatory and the Board directed Thayer to prepare a strategic plan. In fall 1998, the Board approved Thayer’s plan, whose title captured the program’s vision in simple, vivid terms: “The Colburn Conservatory: A Community of Musicians.” Thayer then assembled the Conservatory Planning Group, which included Gilad, Lipsett, Leonard, and theory faculty Warren Spaeth. The five met weekly to discuss their vision for the Colburn Conservatory of Music. “There was a common purpose between all of us who were working to put it together,” Leonard shares.
Founding faculty member Yehuda Gilad with Mstislav Rostropovich.
Mission and Philosophy
The foundational principles of the Conservatory fall into the following four categories.
1. Faculty
Faculty are the nucleus of the Conservatory’s teaching model: they are directly responsible for their students’ artistic growth. Their dedication to teaching is paramount, as is their consistent presence on campus, which brings the opportunity to understand their students holistically, not just how they are in lessons and performances. By establishing resident faculty as the standard, the Conservatory diverges from teaching models common to other conservatories, where faculty jump from school to school, often week to week, to teach students.
With few exceptions, there is only one faculty member per instrument, so it is crucial faculty work well in a small team and believe in the Conservatory’s mission. “It is important,” Leonard recalls, “that they really want to be a member of the faculty of this particular school.”
About the faculty, Mayman adds: “They are devoted to the wellbeing of the Conservatory as a whole. The faculty are treasures as teachers and human beings.”
2. Full Scholarships
Conservatory students receive free tuition, room, and board—the goal being to remove financial barriers and increase accessibility. The endowed gift from Mr. Colburn, with additional support from the School’s community, allows students to focus on their education, not school bills.
The Conservatory’s independence from tuition income directly affects other aspects of the program. As Thayer explains, “Most music schools in the U.S. admit far more students than Colburn, in part to generate tuition. The Colburn Conservatory is based on a non-tuition revenue concept, which allows maximum performance opportunities for all students, a great deal of flexibility in everything that we do, and extraordinary selectivity in terms of standards for acceptance.”
3. Student Population and Size
The target size of the Conservatory is small: keeping studio numbers tight creates more performance and learning opportunities for students across the board. For example, as Thayer mentions earlier, orchestral students routinely play in each concert cycle.
The residence hall, a huge draw for recruiting students, had always been on the table, but it wasn’t a reality until funds were secured for the Olive Street Building. Anecdotally, what convinced Mr. Colburn to support a residence hall in the new building was hearing that students would lose precious practice time commuting to/from campus.
4. Performance Curriculum
The Conservatory curriculum is designed to prepare students for careers as working musicians. “We cater to the needs of young performers,” Gilad shares, “without overburdening them with classes unrelated to their music studies.” Performance opportunities—including orchestra concerts, chamber forums, and masterclasses—therefore take center stage. Performance Forum, the weekly recital series where Conservatory students perform solo and chamber works for the School’s community, has been around since the very beginning. The inspiration for Performance Forum came from Lipsett, who spent summers as a young violinist at Meadowmount, where Ivan Galamian curated weekly concerts. “I saw how powerful and motivating it was for students to hear their colleagues,” Lipsett says.
Founding faculty member Bob Lipsett in a lesson with 2013 Conservatory graduate Elicia Silverstein.
When Lipsett brought the idea of Performance Forum to the faculty, they all recognized that if the concert were to become a mainstay of the Conservatory, the level of playing on stage would consistently need to be at a high level. “For those who perform,” Lipsett explains, “it is as daunting as it gets because you’re playing for an audience who are all musicians. Their experience in Forum really prepares them for performing in the outside world.”
A Conservatory is Born
In fall 2003, the Colburn Conservatory of Music was official. “There was a pretty big buzz about this new school,” Thayer remembers.
Although hundreds auditioned in the early years, the plan was to enroll small and grow gradually. In 2003, 15 students were offered a spot and all 15 accepted. There were 33 students in the second year and then 56 in the third. By 2006, the Conservatory had a full orchestra, which debuted at Walt Disney Concert Hall. In 2007, the new Olive Street Building was up and running, and became the locus of Conservatory activities. Boasting Thayer Hall, the Café, a twelve-story dormitory, and sixty practice rooms and teaching studios, everything about the Olive Street Building was designed with acoustics, aesthetics, and function in mind. Reflecting on teaching in the new building, Leonard says: “All the years I was there, it felt good to be there.”
Present Day
Twenty years in, the Conservatory still operates with a mission to provide exceptional instruction and performance opportunities to young artists. The teaching model and rigorous criteria for the faculty remain the backbone of the program.
Founding faculty member Ron Leonard with students on campus.
Many of the classes that existed in 2003 are part of the curriculum today. Importantly, however, the Conservatory has grown a larger footprint in the community. With 2018’s creation of the Center for Innovation and Community Impact, Conservatory students have greater outreach and advocacy opportunities. Colburn’s robust Philanthropy department provides pathways for students and supporters of the School to share their love of music. Most recently, construction began on a Frank Gehry-designed campus expansion to include five dance studios and the 1,000-seat concert hall named for Terri and Jerry Kohl, which will provide a home for the Conservatory’s orchestra and encourage collaboration and interdisciplinary educational partnerships.
Perhaps Lipsett sums up the founding and development of the Conservatory best: “It’s a great school because of the faculty, the students, and the administration. And, in the end, that’s what Richard Colburn understood.”
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Conservatory of Music Commencement
Join us as we confer degrees at the Conservatory of Music’s 2024 Commencement. The ceremony will feature a keynote address by violist and Colburn School alumna Nokuthula Ngwenyama.