Warm Welcome from the Dean

Semper Pro Musica eNewsletter
Volume 8, No. 4
May 2023 Issue

With the publication of the May 2023 Semper Pro Musica eNewsletter we complete the eighth publication season of this quarterly communication with supporters of the Baylor University School of Music. I would like to thank Jenny LaPoint for her dedication to the compilation and coordination of this online publication. We have a perfect track record of 32 issues having gone out to more than 5,000 people in our data base with a total reach of more than 160,000 points of contact with the people who support our precious School of Music. I am so grateful to Jenny and to the people who have contributed images and articles for publication through this method of communication.

We have so much to be thankful for as this academic year gives way to summer. In the fall we will welcome a talented incoming class of students and have made some important hires in key positions within the School of Music: Dr. Kristina MacMullen and her husband Dr. Jeff MacMullen will join us in August. Kristina will lead the choral area as our new Director of Choral Activities and Jeff joins our voice faculty to teach studio voice. Baylor alumnus William McLean also joins our choral faculty to support the work of Kristina, and a third choral director position is in the last stages of the selection process. That represents all three full-time choral positions coming onboard in a single year.

Next year, my last as Dean of the School of Music, offers some challenges and excitement that I'm looking forward to helping support. We will run the Semper Pro Musica Solo and Chamber Music Competitions and present the winners both at Carnegie Hall in New York City and in the Piano Pavilion of the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth, Texas. I cannot wait to hear the results of the 2024 competition and see our students presented in two of the most beautiful venues in the world. We are also working on taking the Baylor Symphony Orchestra to perform a concert in Bass Hall, home of the Fort Worth Symphony and the Van Cliburn Competition. All these events will take place in April and May of 2024.

Finally, 2024 will see the School of Music go through its 10-year re-accreditation review with the National Association of Schools of Music. The processes to generate the 300-plus page report and to prepare for the onsite visit of the three evaluators are ways to step back and review the progress of the School of Music with critical eyes and ears, and to set the course toward the things necessary to keep the discipline of music moving ever forward at this great university. I am confident that the review process will provide a new dean with valuable information so that person can keep the School of Music moving forward and upward as one of the finest schools of music in the nation.

Enjoy the release of the May 2023 Semper Pro Musica eNewsletter!

Musically yours,

Gary Mortenson, Dean