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Spring 2008
"The Pennsylvania Academy of Music is demonstrating that the arts deserve the best, and that a great facility can be an anchor to an entire downtown…culture is itself an urban amenity and an economic generator, and that investing in arts facilities can be a critical way for a community to regenerate itself…a symbol that will be recognized and admired far beyond Lancaster’s borders."
Paul Goldberger, Pulitzer Prize winner and architecture critic for The New YorkerThe Academy’s new state-of-the-art building has capabilities for performance, production, and live broadcasts – a place where education meets performance. Located in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, the nation’s oldest inland city, the Academy supports and nurtures a student’s growth and appreciation for the musical arts and creates the next generation of performer. Cyril Harris, known for his work at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and Lincoln Center, is responsible for the acoustics in the new education and performing center. The Academy is the last performing arts center designed by Philip Johnson – known for such buildings as the New York State Theatre; Lincoln Center; the AT&T Corporate Headquarters, New York City, and the IBM Tower, Atlanta, Georgia.
Three governors of Pennsylvania have supported the project and vision for the new Academy which has led to government support in the form of a $10 million grant.
Governor Edward G. Rendell has commented that, "The Academy is an educational investment in the children of Pennsylvania who will come here to develop their musical talent. It’s also a cultural investment, bringing talented musicians to one of the great core communities in Pennsylvania."
The First Lady of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Marjorie Rendell, an arts patron, stated that, "The Academy has demonstrated that the arts have unlimited boundaries and international appeal."
The Academy is one of only twelve autonomous music schools in the country accredited by the National Association of Schools of Music (NASM) with a focus on pre-collegiate education in music.
The Pennsylvania Academy of Music is a non-profit pre-collegiate institution dedicated to the musical advancement of its students. Founded in 1990, the Academy attracts students from an immediate nine-county area as well as from around the world, who study disciplines ranging from instrumental, chamber music, orchestra, opera and vocal performance to music composition and theory, improvisation, accompanying ,jazz and recording. The Academy has a widely accomplished international faculty and is one of only 12 autonomous pre-collegiate music schools in the country accredited by the National Association of Schools of Music.
