Yale Bulletin and Calendar

March 5, 2004|Volume 32, Number 21|Two-Week Issue

Robert Blocker

Robert Blocker has been reappointed to third term as dean of the School of Music

Robert Blocker has been reappointed as dean of the School of Music for a third five-year term, effective July 1, 2005, according to an announcement by President Richard C. Levin.

In a letter to the School of Music community, Levin said that those who participated in the review of Blocker's performance as dean spoke of his "collegiality and open-mindedness, of his approachability and willingness to listen. He is felt to be '... a man unfailingly fair, even-handed and resourceful in his administration of all areas of YSM ...' 'He had,' one faculty member stated, 'achieved the ideal moral for the students and faculty respectively through his hard working and gentle but decisive executions. His unselfish dedication to the university provided better facilities, organization, faculty and more.'" Many talked of his success as a fundraiser and of the enormous strides that he has made in the restoration of the school's facilities.

"The School of Music and the University are fortunate to have the services of such an outstanding leader," concluded Levin, "and I know we all will be pleased to work with him for another term."

Shortly after his appointment in 1995, Blocker outlined two primary long-term goals for the school: increased endowment for scholarships and programs, and the renovation of facilities. During his first term, he laid the foundation for achieving these goals by eliminating the school's operating deficit, instituting an ambitious development program and establishing a Board of Visitors for the school comprised of distinguished individuals from throughout the world. He also worked to strengthen ties between the School of Music and the Department of Music, the Yale campus, the New Haven community and the corporate sector.

Since his reappointment in 1999, the School of Music's endowment has increased by over $100 million; the first phase of a long-term facilities rehabilitation plan -- the much-hailed renovation of Sprague Memorial Hall -- was completed; the school's outreach to the New Haven schools expanded; and the school reaffirmed its position as one of the nation's top centers for the training of performers and composers by attracting record-breaking numbers of gifted applicants.

In his third term, Blocker will oversee the completion of the school's facility renovations, beginning this May with Abby and Mitch Leigh Hall and ending with perhaps the largest part of the plan, the renovation of Hendrie Hall. The Hendrie project will represent in bricks and mortar Blocker's vision for music at Yale: bringing together under one roof Yale's graduate and undergraduate student musical organizations. He will also continue to implement his ongoing plans for strengthening and renewing the School of Music curriculum, expanding its international programs, and building the endowment.

Blocker is a distinguished concert pianist (see related story, below), whose engagements have included performances in the United States, Europe, Mexico, China and several Pacific Rim countries. Recent orchestral engagements include the Beijing Symphony Orchestra, Shanghai Symphony, Houston Symphony, Monterey Philharmonic, Prague Chamber Orchestra and Daejeon (South Korea) Symphony.

His many contributions to the music community include service on the advisory boards for the Avery Fisher Artist Program and the Stoeger Prize at Lincoln Center, and the Gilmore Artist Advisory Board. Blocker appears frequently on radio and television and in 2000, Steinway and Sons featured him in a film commemorating the tercentennial of the invention of the piano. This fall, Yale University Press will publish "The Robert Shaw Reader," a collection of the writing of the great American choral conductor edited by Blocker.

The dean has received numerous honors and awards for his work as an artist and educator, including the Tuesday Musical Club Prize, South Carolina's Order of Palmetto, Outstanding Professor awards at Brevard College (North Carolina) and Baylor University (Texas), and three honorary degrees.

Blocker to perform on Horowitz's piano on March 23

The next concert in the Horowitz Piano Series will feature pianist Robert Blocker, dean of the School of Music, performing Beethoven's Bagatelles, op. 119 and Sonata No. 30 in E major, op. 109, as well as Schumann's Phantasiestucke, op. 12, Haydn's Fantasia in C major and Dohnanyi's Capriccio in B minor, op. 2, no. 4 -- all on Vladimir Horowitz's personal piano.

The concert will take place on Tuesday, March 23, at 8 p.m. in Sprague Hall, corner of College and Wall streets. Tickets are $8, $10 and $15; $5 for students.

Blocker began his study of piano at the age of five, presenting his first public recital two years later. Today, he performs throughout the world to critical acclaim. In a review of one of his performances, the Los Angeles Times hailed his "great skill and accomplishment, a measurable virtuoso bent, and considerable musical sensitivity."

The Horowitz Piano Series is sponsored in part by radio station WSHU. For more information, call (203) 432-4158, or visit the School of Music website at www.yale.edu/music.

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