Michigan Chamber Players

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nineteenth century, with the rising popularity of art music among the burgeoning bourgeoisie, were the first schools of music founded in Europe. The United States, being a Eurocentric country with its own burgeoning bourgeoisie, eagerly followed.

In 1880 the U-M hired Calvin Cady as a music instructor in the literary department. As a side venture, Cady opened a private music school on Maynard Street. In time the school was absorbed into the university, and 125 years later, the U-M School of Music has 150 faculty teaching over 1,000 students. Over the long years, other things have changed as well. The school continues to boast a renowned instrumental faculty as well as a distinguished academic faculty, but it has added dance, theater, and musical theater departments, all of them turning out graduates to compete in the high-stakes world of the performing arts.

For Ann Arbor there are two clear benefits from having this music school in town: more musicians and more performances. Every year its students and faculty put on hundreds of concerts and recitals, the vast majority of them free and open to the public. And to celebrate its 125th anniversary this year, the U-M School of Music will be offering even more performances than usual. The first of these will be a special free concert at Rackham on Friday, September 23, by the Michigan Chamber Players, an ensemble of the school's best instrumental teachers; its performances have traditionally been a high point in the school's concert season.