Wheaton College Alumni Magazine Spring 2013 | Page 54

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president's perspective
Philip G. Ryken ’88, President

hortly after I was called to serve as Wheaton’s next president, one of Chicago’s
leading choral conductors happened to be staying with our next-door neighbor in
Philadelphia. We chatted over the backyard fence, and when he learned that I was
going to Wheaton, he immediately started raving about the quality of our choral
program. He had heard our ensembles, he knew some of our graduates, and he was
impressed with our Conservatory of Music.
This encouraging conversation mirrors my own assessment of our music program.
We are blessed with exceptional leadership through the ministry of Dean Michael
Wilder. Recent hires in composition, conducting, and instrumental instruction
have sustained and even strengthened our excellent faculty. A good number of our
students are going on to top graduate programs across the country, or investing
their gifts in the lives of young people through music teaching and ministry.

“We do have one
major limitation,
however. Wheaton
may have the
worst facilities of
any serious music
school in the country.
. . . The quality of our
music buildings is far
below the standard
of our program.
McAlister Hall was
designed to house
a Conservatory only
half as large as our
present population
of 200 music majors.”

Last year, our Symphony Orchestra competed for the American Prize in Orchestral
Performance. Under the direction of maestro Daniel Sommerville, our musicians
came in third place, behind the University of North Carolina Symphony Orchestra
and the University of Denver’s Lamont Symphony Orchestra.
We continue our long-standing commitment to having non-music majors participate
in all of our major ensembles. Nearly half of the students who sing in one of our
choirs or play with either the Symphony Orchestra or the Symphonic Band come from
academic departments throughout the College.
We do have one major limitation, however. Wheaton may have the worst facilities
of any serious music school in the country. I do not say this lightly, but on the basis
of reports from the National Association of Schools of Music (NASM) over the past
several decades (including, most recently, last year).
The quality of our music buildings i