As the fall semester draws to a close, students are scrambling to prepare for finals and looking forward to a well-deserved break from classes. During Winter Term and the coming spring semester, Con students will have multiple reasons to be eagerly anticipating the future, as a number of new projects will be started.

In January, students will be working on a Telarc recording with members of the New York Philharmonic. This CD, a project headed by Assistant Professor of Harp Yolanda Kondonassis, will feature works by well-known Japanese composer Toru Takemitsu.

“This will be a professionally released CD, and we’re very excited about that opportunity,” said Conservatory Dean David H. Stull.

According to Stull, the Conservatory has also been working closely with the city of Oberlin to plan the construction of the Phyllis Litoff Building for jazz studies.

“We’ll be breaking ground on the Litoff building in March,” Stull said. “We are hoping to have occupancy by fall 2009.”

The departments of music theory, music history and jazz studies will all be housed in the new facility, which will also include a state-of-the-art, world class recording studio.

Also in March, a new program that has developed from the Con’s ever-strengthening relationship with China will offer opportunities for both Con and College students post-graduation.  According to Stull, Oberlin hopes to send Con students abroad to teach music, also giving them the chance to perform in professional orchestras and to send College students abroad to teach English as a second language.

The Conservatory is working to finalize plans with the Forren School of Music in Beijing to assist in developing a curriculum that will educate students in music history, music theory and English as a second language, thoroughly preparing them for further study.

As if that weren’t enough to keep students both excited and busy, Stull said, “We anticipate sending the orchestra on a tour of the West Coast next year to Seattle, San Francisco and Los Angeles,” said Stull. “The orchestra will be presented at Disney Hall by the Los Angeles Philharmonic.”