Jacobs School of Music

History

In 1910, Charles D. Campbell was appointed professor of music and head of the new Department of Music at Indiana University. Barzille Winfred Merrill succeeded Campbell in 1919, and the Department of Music officially became the School of Music in 1921.

In 1942, the Metropolitan Opera visited IU for the first time, performing Aida, and returned annually for the next 15 years, presenting two operas each visit. In 1948, IU Opera Theater began with Jacques Offenbach’s The Tales of Hoffmann, establishing what would soon become a world-renowned opera program.

The Latin American Music Center was founded in 1961, followed by the Jazz Studies Department in 1968, by David N. Baker, and the Historical Performance Institute in 1980, by Thomas Binkley.

In 1982, Leonard Bernstein spent six weeks at the school to work on his final opera, A Quiet Place.

In 2005, the school received a gift of $40.6 million from Barbara B. and David H. Jacobs and became the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music in their honor.

In 2009, the school received a gift from the family of Leonard Bernstein that included the entire contents of Bernstein’s conducting studio.

In 2021, the school celebrated its one-hundredth anniversary.

Academics and programs

Admissions

Admission to the Jacobs School of Music is done by a live or recorded audition only. The overall acceptance rate is generally about 25 percent for undergraduate students and about 30 percent for graduate students. However, acceptance rates vary greatly between programs. Each freshman class contains about 200 new students. The school’s admissions page maintains updated information about auditions.

Ensembles

Students in most degree programs at the school are required to participate in an ensemble every semester at the school. Depending on the student’s degree program, he or she may be required to participate in specific ensembles. The majority of ensembles are auditioned.

Owing to the large size of the school, its many ensembles encompass a broad range of sizes and musical styles, including numerous band, choral, jazz, opera, orchestra, percussion, and all-campus groups.

The school is home to two of the nation’s premier contemporary music ensembles: the New Music Ensemble, founded by former professor Frederick A. Fox in 1975, and currently directed by David Dzubay, and NOTUS, a 24-voice choir that specializes in contemporary choral repertoire and especially the works of living composers. Directed by Dominick DiOrio, the ensemble frequently premieres works by students, faculty, and emerging professional composers and frequently tours nationally.

A list of current ensembles may be found on the school’s website.

Opera

The Jacobs School has long been known for its opera program, which has presented more than 500 productions since it began in 1948. Indiana University Jacobs School of Music Opera Theater currently produces five operas and one musical each year, staging works in varying styles and size. It frequently performs classics by composers such as Donizetti, Mozart, Puccini, and Verdi, but also performs Baroque operas by Handel as well as contemporary works by Mason Bates, Jonathan Dove, and Jake Heggie, among others. Cast and chorus members are students, and many of the crew are also students.

Programs of study

The school offers Bachelor of Music (B.M.), Bachelor of Music Education (B.M.E.), Bachelor of Science (B.S.), Master of Arts (M.A.), Master of Music (M.M.), Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), and Doctor of Music (D.M.) degrees, among others, in a large and diverse number of musical fields.

Jacobs also awards a Performer’s Certificate or Artist’s Diploma to students who demonstrate particularly outstanding performance ability. The school offers degrees in Historical Performance, and it is possible for students to enroll in a unique degree program available at Indiana University known as the Bachelor of Science in an Outside Field (B.S.O.F.) in some select areas of study so that students may diversify their education outside of the standard prescribed curriculum.

Faculty

The more than 250 faculty members—which include 170 full-time resident artists and scholars—are internationally celebrated performers and teachers. All major lessons are taught by faculty members, and Jacobs’ 6:1 student-to-faculty ratio ensures abundant personalized attention. In addition, many top musicians and scholars come to the school each year to give master classes and guest lectures or to serve as visiting artistic directors, conductors, and faculty.

A list of current faculty members may be found on the school’s website.

Facilities

Musical Arts Center

The Musical Arts Center, known as the MAC, is the school’s largest performance venue and features a state-of-the art sound system. Designed by architect Evans Woollen III and completed in 1972, it is a classic example of Brutalist architecture. The facility is equipped with European-style seating for 1,460 and space for a 100-piece orchestra, as well as studios, classrooms, and rehearsal studios for opera and ballet.

The 90-by-60-foot stage is the second-largest indoor performance space in the country, surpassed only by the Metropolitan Opera House in New York, with a backstage that occupies more than half of the building. The unsegmented seating design is based on the Bayreuth Festspielhaus in Germany. Currently, the MAC hosts performances of five operas, one musical, three ballets, and numerous orchestral, jazz, wind ensemble, and other events annually.

Peau Rouge Indiana, a 40-foot-tall sculpture by Alexander Calder, sits on the lawn in front of the MAC. Created in 1970, it was repainted in 2007, and a comprehensive restoration, including application of the signature orange-red paint known as Calder Red, was completed in 2025.

East Studio Building

Housing technologically and acoustically advanced teaching and practice facilities, the East Studio Building opened in 2013 after a $44 million gift from the Lilly Endowment. Don Gummer’s sculpture Cindy’s Song adorns the building’s Anniversary Plaza.

Simon Music Center

The Simon Music Center opened after an extensive renovation in 1995 and houses the William and Gayle Cook Music Library, one of the world’s largest academic music libraries. This 55,000-square-foot facility contains more than one million music-related items, including books, scores, recordings, special manuscripts collections, and more.

Auer Hall

Located on the second floor of the Simon Music Center, Auer Hall was made possible by a $1 million gift from Ione B. Auer. The 400-seat auditorium is home to the Maidee H. and Jackson A. Seward Organ, also known as C. B. Fisk, Op. 135. The instrument, boasting nearly 4,000 pipes, was realized through a gift from the Sewards.

The school’s structures also include Merrill Hall, the Music Annex, the Music Practice Building, Marching Hundred Hall, and the Metz Bicentennial Grand Carillon.

More about the Jacobs School of Music’s facilities may be found on the school’s website.

Notable alumni

• Jamey Aebersold, jazz educator
• Kenny Aronoff, drumset
• Seungah Hong, Cellist
• David Baker, jazz composer
• Jamie Barton, mezzo-soprano
• Joshua Bell, violinist
• Noah Bendix-Balgley, violinist, 1st concertmaster of Berlin Philharmonic
• Jonathan Biss, pianist, professor at Curtis Institute of Music
• Julian Bliss, clarinetist, clarinet designer
• Chris Botti, jazz trumpeter
• Michael Brecker, jazz saxophonist
• Carl Broemel, lead guitarist/vocalist/saxophone for My Morning Jacket
• Angela Brown, soprano
• Lawrence Brownlee, tenor
• William Burden, tenor
• Angelin Chang, Grammy award-winning pianist, professor of music and law at Cleveland State University
• Frederic Chiu, pianist
• John Clayton, jazz and classical bassist, composer and arranger
• Richard Cowan, opera singer
• Kathryn Day, soprano
• Jeremy Denk, pianist
• Alexandra du Bois, composer
• Peter Erskine, jazz drummer and educator
• Jack Everly, conductor
• Miriam Fried, violinist and pedagogue, winner of Queen Elisabeth Competition
• Vivica Genaux, mezzo soprano
• Tom Gullion, jazz saxophonist
• Jeff Hamilton, jazz drummer
• Hu Nai-yuan, violinist, winner of Queen Elisabeth Competition
• Bruce Hubbard, Broadway, Metropolitan Opera baritone and recording artist
• Jacques Israelievitch, violinist, former concertmaster of the Toronto Symphony
• Booker T. Jones, songwriter, producer, frontman for Booker T. & the M.G.'s
• Karen Kamensek, Grammy Award winning orchestral and opera conductor, former general music director Staatsoper Hannover
• Paul Katz, cellist, founding member of the Cleveland Quartet
• Kevin Langan, bass
• Wilbur Lin, conductor
• Kate Lindsey, mezzo soprano
• Emily Magee, soprano
• Sylvia McNair, soprano
• Kristin Merscher, pianist, professor at Hochschule für Musik Saar
• Edgar Meyer, bassist, composer, and pedagogue, MacArthur Fellow, professor at the Curtis Institute of Music
• Fatma Ceren Necipoğlu, Turkish harpist
• Michael Palmer, conductor
• William Pell, tenor
• Shawn Pelton, session drummer
• Ailyn Pérez, soprano
• Behzad Ranjbaran, composer, professor at Juilliard School
• Benny Reid, jazz saxophonist, music producer, and composer.
• Larry Ridley, jazz bassist and music educator
• Miguel Roig-Francolí, composer and music theorist
• Byron Schenkman, harpsichordist, pianist
• Nathan Schram, Grammy Award-winning violist and composer
• Sean Shepherd, composer
• Leonard Slatkin, conductor, music director of Detroit Symphony Orchestra
• Sybille Specht, German mezzo-soprano
• Elizabeth Stanley, Broadway actress
• Patrick Summers, conductor, artistic and music director of Houston Grand Opera
• Gwen Thompson, violinist
• Doron Toister, composer and cellist
• Michael Weiss, jazz pianist and composer
• Wendy White, mezzo-soprano
• Pharez Whitted, jazz
• Jennifer Widom, computer science professor at Stanford University
• Caleb Young, conductor
• Don Yule, bass

Notes

References

References

1. "Schools: Academics".
2. "Areas of Study".
3. "About".
4. "Accredited Institutions Search".
5. "Timeline: Centennial: About: Jacobs School of Music: Indiana University Bloomington".
6. Proskuriakova, N. A.. (1975). "[Importance of Co35 in the treatment of secondary hypochromic anemia in young children]". Zdravookhranenie Kirgizii.
7. "Degrees & Programs".