Students and staff from the School of Music and Dance gathered outside of Beall hall Friday morning to celebrate the groundbreaking for a long-awaited addition to the building, which will be named after MarAbel B. Frohnmayer, University President Dave Frohnmayer’s mother.
The donations will facilitate the creation of two new sections, totaling 29,000 square feet. The money will also pay for renovations to older parts of the building, some of which were built in the 1920s. Renovations are slated to create two 40-seat classrooms, one 90-seat classroom, a 3,000-square-foot concert hall, six practice rooms, a recording studio and studios for jazz and percussion, according to a January Emerald article.
Lorry Lokey and Bob and Leona DeArmond, some of the lead donors for the two new wings, spoke at the groundbreaking, which featured performances from the Green Garter Band and the University Chamber Choir.
Brad Foley, dean of the School of Music, credited former dean Anne Dhu McLucas and former state representative Al King with helping the school earn a legislative bond to help renovate the facilities in 2001. Private donors contributed the rest, bringing the total raised to $17.8 million, he said.
“I’ve been delighted to play a role in this project that will have a significant impact on the state of Oregon and professional music training in this state for generations to come,” Foley said.
Foley said the school takes the responsibility of arts education very seriously.
“Over the past century, we’ve grown from a small program to one of the more comprehensive in the nation,” he said. “Our new state-of-the-art facilities will change the school. Not only will it help us recruit and retain some of the finest students and faculty from around the globe, it will help us provide life-changing experiences for thousands of students in the coming years.”
Foley also thanked those unable to attend, such as Thelma and Gilbert Schnitzer, who donated $1 million in response to a challenge from Lokey. Foley said the donors’ decision to name the building after Frohnmayer’s mother, who graduated from the school in 1932, “helps to join the past with the future.”
When the lead donors announced to the Frohnmayer family that they would name the music building after MarAbel, Frohnmayer said, “there was not a dry eye in the house.”
“This project means an enormous amount to the members of the Frohnmayer family,” he said.
Frohnmayer said the “great performance” of the Chamber Choir “reminds us why we’re here.”
Lokey said he began warming to classical music when he went to see Madame Butterfly while in the army. He eventually came to learn that “music is the international language” and began to become attached to it.
“If instead of fighting we played music in competition and got it out of our systems, the world would be a lot better off,” he said.
Lokey said he believes the Schnitzers, the DeArmonds and himself have made a great investment in giving to the School of Music and Dance.
“This school is going to become so good down the road that you won’t be able to wait to get to the next event,” he said.
University student Madelyn Banahene spoke about the need for more space at the school and said the new additions to the building will be a big help to all music students.
Foley, Frohnmayer and the donors ended the event by digging into a small patch of dirt with golden shovels as a trombone ensemble played behind them.
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