Carnegie Mellon News Online Edition: September 27, 2001
Carnegie Mellon News Online Edition
In This Issue
University Rallies to Mourn National Tragedy

Carnegie Mellon Rated "Most Wired," Again

"National Treasure" Robert Page Receives Paul Mellon Professorship of Music

University 23rd in U.S. News' Rating

40-Year-Old Sets Hectic Pace as Freshman and CFA Staff Member

Ferguson Leads Effort to Trap, Neuter and Release Feral Cats

Autonomous Helicopter Called to Assist FBI in Somerset County

Summer Appointments and Accolades

Paul Christiano Remembered

Women's Association Tours PNC Park

Satyanarayanan Heads New Intel Lab

Football Team Collects More than $5,500 for Relief Effort


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"National Treasure" Robert Page Receives Paul Mellon Professorship of Music

music man Robert Page, professor of music and director of choral studies in the School of Music, has been named the first recipient of the Paul Mellon Professorship of Music in the College of Fine Arts (CFA).

This distinguished professorship was funded by a bequest from the late Paul Mellon, one of America's greatest philanthropists, art collectors and humanitarians who played a key role in Carnegie Mellon's creation.

In 1967, Mellon facilitated the merger of the Mellon Institute of Research-which Mellon's family had established-with Carnegie Institute of Technology to form Carnegie Mellon University. He announced the merger and the school's new name, Carnegie Mellon University, at the 1967 commencement on the CFA lawn.

"This new professorship in the College of Fine Arts will support Carnegie Mellon's commitment to Mr. Mellon by offering an exciting range of music studies to its students, taught by an acclaimed expert in the field," said Martin Prekop, the Stanley and Marcia Gumberg Dean of the College of Fine Arts.

Page's resume presents a career filled with honors and awards. Declared "a national treasure" by the American Record Guide, he was named Pennsylvania's Artist of the Year by Governor Tom Ridge in 1998. He is one of the most distinguished choral conductors in the United States.

Page joined the faculty of the School of Music in 1975 and eventually served as head of the school for five years. Before coming to Carnegie Mellon, he was a faculty member at Temple University and Eastern New Mexico University.

He has received numerous academic awards including the Danforth Teachers Study Grant (1955-56, 1964) and Temple's Lindbach Award for Distinguished Teaching in 1972.

Page's work is available on more than 40 discs issued by major recording companies, such as Columbia, London, RCA, Telarc and Decca. He is an eight-time Grammy Award nominee and has received the prestigious award for his recordings of "Catulli Carmina" and "Carmina Burana."

Page, director of special projects and choral activities for the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, has also served as the music director and conductor of the Mendelssohn Choir of Pittsburgh since 1979. Critics credit him with bringing the choir to international prominence.

Page has conducted many of the major orchestras of the United States and abroad, including orchestras in Cleveland, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Minnesota, Houston, Dallas, Louisiana, Milwaukee, Virginia and San Antonio, as well as the opera companies of Cleveland, Kansas City and Toledo. He conducted several national radio and television broadcasts as an assistant conductor and director of choruses for the world-renowned Cleveland Orchestra from 1971-89.

Page conducted the opening of the Dvorak Festival in Prague in 1999 and 2000 and the opening concert of the Mikkeli Festival in Finland in July 2001 with the Robert Page Festival Singers, the Prague Radio Orchestra and the State Orchestra of St. Petersburg (Russia). He has also conducted at the White Nights Festival in St. Petersburg and the Echternach Festival in Luxembourg. His other concert venues include Salzburg, Vienna, Munich, Oxford and Buenos Aires.

Page has been the catalyst in the commissioning of major works of the 20th century, including "Turbae" by Alberto Ginastera, "The Lovers" by Samuel Barber, "An American Oratorio" by Ned Rorem, "Ball" by Richard Hundley, "...among the voices" by Barnard Rands and "Missa Mysteriorum" by Nancy Galbraith.

Active in the national choral orchestra scene, Page has served on the choral, festival and overview panels of the National Endowment for the Arts. He is a founding member of CHORUS AMERICA, the service organization for independent choruses. He served as its president for three years.

Page earned his bachelor's degree from Abilene Christian College and his master's degree from Indiana University. He has received honorary doctor's degrees from Beaver, Quincy, Drury and Seton Hill colleges as well as from his alma mater, Abilene Christian.

Joelle Park
(09/27/01)


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