Brevard Music Center
Encyclopedia
The Brevard Music Center is a summer institute and festival located in Brevard, North Carolina
. It enrolls about four hundred students, age fourteen and older, who participate in orchestra and other large ensembles, an opera program, play chamber music, study composition, and take private lessons. A faculty of sixty is drawn from orchestras, conservatories, and universities. The season runs from the last week of June through the first week of August. Three performance venues, including the 1800-seat Whittington-Pfohl Auditorium, host more than eighty public concerts that attract audiences of some 50,000 persons. With an annual budget of more than three million dollars, the Center contributes substantially to the economy of western North Carolina.
The Brevard Music Center began life in 1936 as a summer music camp for boys at Davidson College
. The founder, Davidson faculty member James Christian Pfohl, led the program for seven years at Davidson and one season at Queens College in Charlotte, North Carolina
. In 1944 Pfohl moved the program to its present location in Brevard, North Carolina
, and he instituted a festival of concerts in 1945. The name "Brevard Music Center" was adopted in 1955. Pfohl remained artistic director until 1964, when he was succeeded by Henry Janiec of Converse College
. Janiec was succeeded in 1997 by conductor David Effron
. Keith Lockhart
became the Artistic Director in October 2007.
The Brevard Music Center offers tuition in orchestral instruments, piano, composition, voice, and opera. Two-thirds of the student body is college age or older, and all students and faculty live on the wooded campus of 180 acre (0.7284348 km²). Active alumni include countertenor David Daniels, Boston Pops
conductor Keith Lockhart
, and violist Roberto Diaz
, president of the Curtis Institute of Music
.
Brevard, North Carolina
Brevard is a town in Transylvania County, North Carolina, United States. The 2005 population estimate by the United States Census Bureau was 6,643. It is the county seat of Transylvania County....
. It enrolls about four hundred students, age fourteen and older, who participate in orchestra and other large ensembles, an opera program, play chamber music, study composition, and take private lessons. A faculty of sixty is drawn from orchestras, conservatories, and universities. The season runs from the last week of June through the first week of August. Three performance venues, including the 1800-seat Whittington-Pfohl Auditorium, host more than eighty public concerts that attract audiences of some 50,000 persons. With an annual budget of more than three million dollars, the Center contributes substantially to the economy of western North Carolina.
The Brevard Music Center began life in 1936 as a summer music camp for boys at Davidson College
Davidson College
Davidson College is a private liberal arts college in Davidson, North Carolina. The college has graduated 23 Rhodes Scholars and is consistently ranked in the top ten liberal arts colleges in the country by U.S. News and World Report magazine, although it has recently dropped to 11th in U.S. News...
. The founder, Davidson faculty member James Christian Pfohl, led the program for seven years at Davidson and one season at Queens College in Charlotte, North Carolina
Charlotte, North Carolina
Charlotte is the largest city in the U.S. state of North Carolina and the seat of Mecklenburg County. In 2010, Charlotte's population according to the US Census Bureau was 731,424, making it the 17th largest city in the United States based on population. The Charlotte metropolitan area had a 2009...
. In 1944 Pfohl moved the program to its present location in Brevard, North Carolina
Brevard, North Carolina
Brevard is a town in Transylvania County, North Carolina, United States. The 2005 population estimate by the United States Census Bureau was 6,643. It is the county seat of Transylvania County....
, and he instituted a festival of concerts in 1945. The name "Brevard Music Center" was adopted in 1955. Pfohl remained artistic director until 1964, when he was succeeded by Henry Janiec of Converse College
Converse College
Converse College is a liberal arts women's college in Spartanburg, South Carolina, USA. It was established by a group of Spartanburg citizens and named after Dexter Edgar Converse.-History:...
. Janiec was succeeded in 1997 by conductor David Effron
David Effron
David Effron is an American conductor and educator. After earning a Bachelor of Music degree in piano from the University of Michigan and a Master of Music degree in piano from Indiana University, he worked as an assistant to Wolfgang Sawallisch at the Cologne Opera...
. Keith Lockhart
Keith Lockhart
For the baseball player, see Keith Lockhart Keith Lockhart , to Newton Frederick and Marilyn Jean Woodyard Lockhart, is an American orchestral conductor....
became the Artistic Director in October 2007.
The Brevard Music Center offers tuition in orchestral instruments, piano, composition, voice, and opera. Two-thirds of the student body is college age or older, and all students and faculty live on the wooded campus of 180 acre (0.7284348 km²). Active alumni include countertenor David Daniels, Boston Pops
Boston Pops Orchestra
The Boston Pops Orchestra is an American orchestra based in Boston, Massachusetts, that specializes in playing light classical and popular music....
conductor Keith Lockhart
Keith Lockhart
For the baseball player, see Keith Lockhart Keith Lockhart , to Newton Frederick and Marilyn Jean Woodyard Lockhart, is an American orchestral conductor....
, and violist Roberto Diaz
Roberto Diaz
Roberto Díaz was principal viola of the National Symphony under Mstislav Rostropovich, a member of the Boston Symphony under Seiji Ozawa, and a member of the Minnesota Orchestra under Neville Marriner. In 1996 he became principal violist of the Philadelphia Orchestra, a position he held until 2006...
, president of the Curtis Institute of Music
Curtis Institute of Music
The Curtis Institute of Music is a conservatory in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, that offers courses of study leading to a performance Diploma, Bachelor of Music, Master of Music in Opera, and Professional Studies Certificate in Opera. According to statistics compiled by U.S...
.