Montverde Academy begins music curriculum this fall

The Montverde Academy Music Conservatory will initiate their inaugural curricula this upcoming fall semester. The mission of the conservatory will be to ‘… broaden student’s understanding of the varied and wondrous offerings that are in the arts and to encourage young artists to create their own art, music and theatre. It is through this creative process that we deepen their appreciation and build an emotional love of the arts that lasts a lifetime.’ MVA Headmaster, Dr. Kasey C. Kesselring, recently stated, ‘I enjoy learning, and sports are exciting, but the arts are my passion. Students will now have the opportunity to focus that much more on developing their skills with hopes of a collegiate scholarship.’

Montverde Academy Fine Arts Chair, Mr. Aubrey Connelly, will serve as the director of the conservatory. Dr. Lillian Green, a graduate of the Johns Hopkins Peabody Conservatory of Baltimore, will direct the advanced strings program. The Montverde Academy Music Conservatory will include students from all of the Academy’s three school divisions and place a special emphasis on its strings instrumentation instruction.

Violins, violas and cellos will be provided for schoolchildren at each division to further develop and cultivate their melodic skills and awareness. Mr. Brandon Bangle, Upper-school Instrumental teacher, will manage musical instruction for both the middle and lower school divisions training program. Mrs. Mary Mincey, who has assisted Mr. Connolly in the past with various MVA musical concerts and competitions, will support the conservatory with its choral groups, piano instruction and emergent keyboarding methods.

Students accepted to the conservatory will maintain 5 academic classes each morning, have a break for clubs and lunch, and then return to the music building to resume coursework (*students will schedule their core courses in the morning so their afternoon will be dedicated to musical direction and rehearsal). MVA Music Conservatory students will convene four days a week in various musical forums (vocal or instrumental) that will explore and educate an array of musical conceptions that will include: aural training; ensemble work; instrumental techniques; international phonetic alphabet; music history; musical theatre playhouse; opera; piano/piano theory; pit-orchestra; sightseeing; and sectional study.

For more information, visit: www.Montverde.org/MAMC. The conservatory is still accepting qualified candidates for the forthcoming fall semester. Although students will possess a broad range of instruments and musical styles, they will focus their study regime on their primary instruments of choice.