By Aliyah Jacobson
Throughout this week, Brooklyn College is hosting a series of open houses every night for graduate school programs in the arts, hoping to encourage and entice students to enroll for the fall 2022 semester.
The open houses included multiple graduate programs like Media Studies, Musicology, Music Performance, Music Composition, Performing Arts Management, and the Feirstein Graduate School of Cinema. To kick off the week, Music Composition held its open house on Monday, Oct. 25.
Featuring Conservatory of Music Head Alexandra Lewis and Undergraduate Deputy Director of the Music Concentration, Douglas Cohen, the event attracted a small audience of two, one of which being myself, who is graduating from the undergraduate Music Concentration program next spring. As the meeting ran short due to the lack of student turnout, both Lewis and Cohen were left to debate how they were going to spend the hour that they had scheduled to be there.
The department heads spoke about their hopes that Brooklyn College will fully reopen in the spring, which arguably would be a dream for many students. One prospective graduate student even reflected that it is hard for them to learn online, especially in the arts.
Although the music department is operating mostly in person, they are not allowing students to attend the conservatory’s performances. This serves as a challenge for those who want to support friends, hear music live again, and hope to boost the morale of fellow students who are struggling to perform for empty theaters.
Lewis and Cohen also spoke about the master’s program which is designed to be manageable and completed in two years even if you are working.
Brooklyn College’s Music Graduate program, they mentioned, also features theorists from around the world, and professors from CUNY to Yale who offer the best of every program. Options for students wishing to apply for this graduate program are voice performance, choral singing and conducting.
For voice, BC has Professor Ursula Oppens, who not only teaches piano at the graduate level but pushes students to the best of their strengths and makes it enjoyable for all.
Choral singing and conducting led by Professor Malcolm Merriweather, who directs the symphonic choir and conservatory singers, pushes graduate singers by providing private teachers to broaden their range, allowing them to practice on their own, and be the best performance artists they can be. With students from around the world, Merriweather brings out the best in all of them so that they graduate with more knowledge than they came in with.
The graduate center hopes that with their multiple virtual open houses, they can still attract talented students and that the college will be thriving and fully in-person come spring.