Music
Department

International and Summer Study

We have a number of exciting study and performance programs available to you.  Some are overseas, some are at SMCM during the summer. We will be working during the 2007-08 academic year towards having all of these programs satisfy the college’s new requirement for “Experiencing the Liberal Arts in the World” (a requirement that commenced with the new Core Curriculum in academic year 2008-09).

• Alba
• Alba Festival
• Alba Spring Music Intensive Semester
• Alba "Signature" Semester
• Summer Opportunities -- River Concert Series and School

Alba

Alba is the capital of the Italian wine industry. It is to Italy what Bordeaux is to France. Major industries in Alba, including Cerreto Wines and Ferrero Chocolates, make Alba Italy's second wealthiest area. Alba has two concert halls, five major churches (which are wonderful performance venues), several pedestrian/shopping districts, and, since Roman times, has been considered, even in Italy, a place of extraordinarily fine cuisine (Alba is where Italy's finest truffles are harvested).

We have three ways for you to experience life in the extraordinarily beautiful small medieval town of Alba, which is in the Piedmont district in the north of Italy.

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International Alba Music Festival (last two weeks of May)

The International Alba Music Festival is an intensive two-week musical experience, combining study and performing. Our faculty is joined by an international roster of performers from throughout Europe who come to Alba to perform and interact with our faculty and students. Students may study performance (vocal or instrumental) or composition. All students will play vital roles in the performances or other activities of the festival. While this festival is open to the participation of students from around the US and Europe (and we do attract a growing number of such students), SMCM students' participation is made possible by the generous sponsorship of Alice Waldschmitt, whose gifts underwrite a significant percentage of SMCM student costs (air tickets, room, board, instructional costs). For more information, please see any of the full-time music faculty.

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Alba Spring Music-Intensive Semester

In each spring semester, a small group of music students will be able to undertake intensive music study in Alba.  Primary teachers will be chosen for the participating students as appropriate from among the best musician-teachers in the Alba area (which includes Turin and Milan, both cities with major conservatories). The costs of studying in Alba will be the same as being at SMCM – that is, room, board, and tuition in Alba will equal exactly what you would pay for being at SMCM during that same time.  You will retain all your scholarships while studying in Alba, and will have your space in the residence halls guaranteed upon your return. For more information, please see any of the full-time music faculty.

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Alba “Signature” Semester

During the fall semester, students at St. Mary’s College may take classes at the Alba Campus Center.  The courses offered, primarily by SMCM faculty, will be chosen to be appropriate to Alba, and also satisfy general education requirements.  As with the Alba Spring semester, room, board, and tuition will be the same as SMCM, scholarships will be retained, space in the residence hall will be guaranteed upon your return, and credit will count towards the SMCM degree.  Music students will be offered high-quality private lessons and performance opportunities.

SMCM offers “signature” semesters in other locations as well, including Oxford University (England), Fudan University (Shanghai), and in The Gambia (Africa).  As with the Alba “Signature” semester, these are not music specific study programs.  Depending on where you go, the music department may be able to help you find music instruction.  See the Office of International Education for details. 

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Summer Opportunities – The River Concert Series and School

Every summer, the Chesapeake Orchestra, under the artistic direction of Jeffrey Silberschlag, plays a seven-concert series on Friday evenings in June and July. The programs include music from the heart of the standard orchestral repertoire, including, in recent seasons, Mahler's Symphonies No. 1 and 5, Bruch's Violin Concerto (with Lara St. John), Dvorak's Symphony No. 9, Strauss's Thus Spake Zarathustra and Till Eulenspiegel, Beethoven's Symphony No. 5, Rachmaninoff's Concerto No. 2 (with Leon Bates) and Rachmaninoff's Concerto No. 3 (with Jon Nakamatsu). New music has included Kenji Bunch's Hardware Concerto (with the Ahn Trio) and Jeffrey Mumford's "verdant and shimmering air," and much else, including world premieres of music by William Thomas McKinley written for Ben Bradlee as narrator (What the Presidents Said), David Froom (Songs of a Summer Evening, Striking Silver), Scott Wheeler (Gradualia, a piano concerto for Eliza Garth) and Louis Karchin (Chesapeake Overture).

The principle players in this full-size, professional orchestra are the music faculty of St. Mary's College of Maryland. Student musicians play alongside SMCM faculty and other fine musicians, drawn from among the best players of the Baltimore/Washington region,  Our students are involved in every part of this series. Those students whose interest includes arts management are paid for the full range of behind the scenes work. Students who are interested in performance are, as appropriate, hired to play in the orchestra.  It is possible to do both of these.

During this same time, nearly every week features an international performance masterclass. Prominent musicians from around the world are invited to teach, coach, and conduct. While there is some variety from year to year interms of offerings, each summer in the past few years has included a week of activities for brass (all instruments), flute, and piano.

For details about these and other international or domestic opportunities for SMCM music students, please speak with any of the full-time music faculty.  For students with special or particular interests involving work or study in the US or abroad, we have been able to help create custom programs of study.  Please come to us with your ideas, and we will try to help.

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