Last Monday, the National University of Singapore (NUS) signed a six-year agreement to collaborate with the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University (JHU) to establish the Singapore Conservatory of Music (SCM) at NUS. NUS Deputy President and Provost Professor Chong Chi Tat, Vice-Provost of JHU Dr. Paula Burger and Director of the Peabody Institute Dr. Robert Sirota signed the agreement at the University Cultural Centre in NUS. The collaboration is the first of its kind between a well-known U.S. music conservatory and a leading university in the Asian-Pacific region.
The SCM will offer students a four-year Honors Baccalaureate of Music similar to Peabody's Bachelor of Music undergraduate degree program. The program will include music literacy, composition and ensembles, individual performance and special programs such as recording arts and teacher education. The music conservatory will serve the needs of students who want to be composers, performers, teachers, critics and other careers in the musical field.
Peabody will assist the SCM in designing and developing its curriculum, constructing the conservatory and recruiting faculty. Peabody will also help coordinate a program to recruit gifted students from around the world and particularly throughout Southeast Asia from countries such as Singapore, Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia, Indonesia, China and the Philippines. The first enrollment of students, which will occur in about two to three years, will include about 30 students and grow to about 150-200 students in a couple of years, adding 40-50 students per year.
Peabody will also send composers, performing artists and other faculty members to the SCM on a short-term basis for master classes and residencies. Soloists and chamber ensembles will also be made available for performances at the SCM. Collaborations between the SCM and Peabody will later extend to student exchange programs, graduate programs and distance learning exchanges. Peabody will eventually create an office on its campus in Baltimore, Md. to coordinate involvement with the SCM.
The SCM will contribute to the growth of musical, cultural and artistic developments in Singapore. It will serve as a center for musical education not only for Singapore but for the entire Southeast Asian region. A governing board will be created to advise, operate and set policies for the SCM as an institution of international standing. The governing board will also maintain the involvement and support of stakeholders such as the Ministry of Education (MOE), the Ministry of Information, Communications and the Arts (MITA), the National Arts Council (NAC), and the Singapore Symphony Orchestra (SSO).
Dr. Steven Baxter, who has served as the Dean of the Peabody Conservatory of Music for the past seven years will be the Director-Designate of the SCM beginning in January 2002. Baxter was unavailable to comment.
The SCM is not the first collaboration between JHU and NUS. In 1998, Johns Hopkins Medicine and the National University of Singapore created Johns Hopkins Singapore and the Johns Hopkins-NUH International Medical Centre at the National University of Singapore.
Assistant Editor of the Peabody News Kirsten Lavin said, "The Peabody Institute is proud and delighted to enter into this new collaboration with the National University of Singapore to create a world-class music conservatory. This is a rare and exciting opportunity to enhance musical culture in Singapore and throughout the Southeast Asia region. Peabody already has strong ties to the Far East ? approximately one third of Peabody's student population is from Asia ? and we are enthusiastic about extending and strengthening those ties.
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