Kappa Gamma Psi
Encyclopedia
Performing arts
The performing arts are those forms art which differ from the plastic arts insofar as the former uses the artist's own body, face, and presence as a medium, and the latter uses materials such as clay, metal or paint which can be molded or transformed to create some physical art object...
fraternity
Fraternities and sororities
Fraternities and sororities are fraternal social organizations for undergraduate students. In Latin, the term refers mainly to such organizations at colleges and universities in the United States, although it is also applied to analogous European groups also known as corporations...
in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, originally founded in 1913. Its last surviving Collegiate chapter (Iota) went inactive in 2008, but the National Organization continues and is in the process of founding Alumni chapters. Its membership was originally restricted to males, but became coeducational in the 1970s.
Founding
Kappa Gamma Psi was founded on December 11, 1913 by twelve faculty members at the New England Conservatory of MusicNew England Conservatory of Music
The New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, Massachusetts, is the oldest independent school of music in the United States.The conservatory is home each year to 750 students pursuing undergraduate and graduate studies along with 1400 more in its Preparatory School as well as the School of...
in Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
, Massachusetts
Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
.
Chapters
The fraternity originally had chapters at 13 universities throughout the United States (the New England Conservatory, the University of MichiganUniversity of Michigan
The University of Michigan is a public research university located in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the United States. It is the state's oldest university and the flagship campus of the University of Michigan...
, Ithaca College
Ithaca College
Ithaca College is a private college located on the South Hill of Ithaca, New York. The school was founded by William Egbert in 1892 as a conservatory of music. The college has a strong liberal arts core, but also offers several pre-professional programs and some graduate programs. The college is...
, the Boston Conservatory
Boston Conservatory
The Boston Conservatory is a performing arts conservatory located in the Fenway-Kenmore region of Boston, Massachusetts, United States. It grants undergraduate and graduate degrees in music, dance and musical theater...
, the University of Utah
University of Utah
The University of Utah, also known as the U or the U of U, is a public, coeducational research university in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. The university was established in 1850 as the University of Deseret by the General Assembly of the provisional State of Deseret, making it Utah's oldest...
, Pennsylvania State University
Pennsylvania State University
The Pennsylvania State University, commonly referred to as Penn State or PSU, is a public research university with campuses and facilities throughout the state of Pennsylvania, United States. Founded in 1855, the university has a threefold mission of teaching, research, and public service...
, Boston University
Boston University
Boston University is a private research university located in Boston, Massachusetts. With more than 4,000 faculty members and more than 31,000 students, Boston University is one of the largest private universities in the United States and one of Boston's largest employers...
, the University of Alabama
University of Alabama
The University of Alabama is a public coeducational university located in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, United States....
, Louisiana State University
Louisiana State University
Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, most often referred to as Louisiana State University, or LSU, is a public coeducational university located in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The University was founded in 1853 in what is now known as Pineville, Louisiana, under the name...
, Louisiana Tech University
Louisiana Tech University
Louisiana Tech University, often referred to as Louisiana Tech, LA Tech, or Tech, is a coeducational public research university located in Ruston, Louisiana. Louisiana Tech is designated as a Tier 1 school in the national universities category by the 2012 U.S. News & World Report college rankings...
, the Chicago Musical College
Chicago Musical College
Chicago Musical College is a division of Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt UniversityIt was founded in 1867, less than four decades after the city of Chicago was incorporated...
, the Cincinnati School of Music, and DePaul University
DePaul University
DePaul University is a private institution of higher education and research in Chicago, Illinois. Founded by the Vincentians in 1898, the university takes its name from the 17th century French priest Saint Vincent de Paul...
). Iota Chapter, at Ithaca College in upstate New York
Upstate New York
Upstate New York is the region of the U.S. state of New York that is located north of the core of the New York metropolitan area.-Definition:There is no clear or official boundary between Upstate New York and Downstate New York...
(founded in 1929), the last active chapter, went inactive in 2008. Members of several former chapters remain in contact and gather periodically.
Composition contest and commissioned works
Kappa Gamma Psi Iota chapter (Ithaca College) formerly sponsored a competition for new compositionsContemporary classical music
Contemporary classical music can be understood as belonging to the period that started in the mid-1970s with the retreat of modernism. However, the term may also be employed in a broader sense to refer to all post-1945 modern musical forms.-Categorization:...
. The widely performed band composition The Leaves Are Falling, by the American composer Warren Benson
Warren Benson
Warren Benson was an American composer. His compositions consist mostly of music for wind instruments and percussion...
, was commissioned by Kappa Gamma Psi in 1963. Deux Preludes, a work for flute, clarinet, and bassoon by the Czech-born composer Karel Husa
Karel Husa
Karel Husa is a Czech-born classical composer and conductor, winner of the 1969 Pulitzer Prize and 1993 University of Louisville Grawemeyer Award in Music Composition...
, was commissioned by the Iota chapter in 1966. Elie Siegmeister
Elie Siegmeister
Elie Siegmeister was an American composer, educator and author.His varied musical output showed his concern with the development of an authentic American musical vocabulary...
's Sextet for Brass and Percussion was commissioned in 1966. In 1974, the Iota chapter commissioned Alfred Reed
Alfred Reed
Alfred Reed was one of North America's most prolific and frequently performed composers, with more than two hundred published works for concert band, wind ensemble, orchestra, chorus, and chamber ensemble to his name...
's Double Wind Quintet.
Notable honorary members
- Harold BauerHarold BauerHarold Bauer was a noted pianist who began his musical career as a violinist.Harold Bauer was born in London; his father was a German violinist and his mother was English. He took up the study of the violin under the direction of his father and Adolf Pollitzer. He made his debut as a violinist in...
- Joseph Bonner
- Pablo CasalsPablo CasalsPau Casals i Defilló , known during his professional career as Pablo Casals, was a Spanish Catalan cellist and conductor. He is generally regarded as the pre-eminent cellist of the first half of the 20th century, and one of the greatest cellists of all time...
- Philip Greely Clapp
- Ferdinand Dunkley
- George EastmanGeorge EastmanGeorge Eastman was an American innovator and entrepreneur who founded the Eastman Kodak Company and invented roll film, helping to bring photography to the mainstream...
- Duke EllingtonDuke EllingtonEdward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington was an American composer, pianist, and big band leader. Ellington wrote over 1,000 compositions...
- Ossip GabrilowitschOssip GabrilowitschOssip Gabrilowitsch was a Russian-born American pianist, conductor and composer.- Biography :...
- Philip HalePhilip HalePhilip Hale was an American music critic.An 1876 graduate of Yale University, Hale practiced law upon leaving college, also studying piano with John Kautz and playing the organ in a church...
- Louis Hasselmans
- Hans KindlerHans KindlerJohannes Hendrikus Philip "Hans" Kindler was an American cellist and conductor.Kindler was born in Rotterdam, The Netherlands where he attended the Rotterdams Conservatorium....
- Fritz KreislerFritz KreislerFriedrich "Fritz" Kreisler was an Austrian-born violinist and composer. One of the most famous violin masters of his or any other day, he was known for his sweet tone and expressive phrasing. Like many great violinists of his generation, he produced a characteristic sound which was immediately...
- Erich LeinsdorfErich LeinsdorfErich Leinsdorf was a naturalized American Austrian conductor. He performed and recorded with leading orchestras and opera companies throughout the United States and Europe, earning a reputation for exacting standards as well as an acerbic personality...
- George Longy
- Béla Böszörményi-Nagy
- Ignace Paderewski
- Attilio Poto
- Leroy Robinson
- Jesus Maria SanromaJesús Maria SanromáJesús María Sanromá was a Puerto Rican pianist. He is considered by many to be one of the 20th century's most accomplished and important pianists.-Early years:...
- Elie SiegmeisterElie SiegmeisterElie Siegmeister was an American composer, educator and author.His varied musical output showed his concern with the development of an authentic American musical vocabulary...
- Laurence Tibbet
- Nicholas Schwalt
- Roman Tottenburg
- Bruno WalterBruno WalterBruno Walter was a German-born conductor. He is considered one of the best known conductors of the 20th century. Walter was born in Berlin, but is known to have lived in several countries between 1933 and 1939, before finally settling in the United States in 1939...
William L. Whitney
External links
- Kappa Gamma Psi official site
- Ithaca College chapter of Kappa Gamma Psi
- Kappa Gamma Psi page from Ithaca College student organizations site