About: Quick Facts
OVERVIEW
The Longy School of Music is a degree-granting conservatory and a community-based music school, located in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
There are three programs at Longy:
- Conservatory – degree and diploma programs for undergraduate and graduate students
- Continuing Studies – lesson, class, and ensemble offerings for avocational and non-degree adult students
- Preparatory Studies – lesson, class, and ensemble offerings for young people from 12 months to 18 years of age
The School was founded in 1915, in Boston, by Georges Longy, then the principal oboist of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. It moved to Cambridge in 1930 and to 27 Garden Street, now the Zabriskie House, in 1937. It purchased a second building at 33 Garden Street, the Rey-Waldstein Building, in 1998.
Longy is accredited by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC) and the National Association of Schools of Music (NASM).
CONSERVATORY
Programs: The Longy School Conservatory confers the Master of Music degree, Undergraduate Diploma, Graduate Performance Diploma, Artist Diploma, and the Dalcroze Certificate and License. Undergraduate Diploma students can jointly enroll at Emerson College in Boston and pursue the Longy Undergraduate Diploma and Emerson Bachelor of Music degree simultaneously.
Enrollment: In the fall of 2011, the Conservatory enrolled 235 students from 35 U.S. states and 23 foreign countries, including 52 undergraduates and 183 graduate students.
Average Class Size: 9
Student-to-Faculty Ratio: 2.7:1
Retention Rates: The first-to-second-year retention rate in the Master of Music program (the largest program in the Conservatory) is 89% (three-year average).The graduation rate is 82.21% (six-year average). At the undergraduate level, the freshman-to-sophomore retention rate is 80% (four-year average) and the graduation rate is 46% (six-year average).
Placement: Recent Longy graduates have gone directly into the ranks of major performing organizations, including the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, New World Symphony, Orchestre Philharmonique de Liège, Orquestra del Palau de les Arts Reina Sofia (Valencia, Spain), Orquestra Sinfônica do Estado de São Paulo, and the Zurich Opera House Orchestra. Others have gained entrance to such institutions as Boston Conservatory, Boston University, Eastman School of Music, Hartt School, Indiana University, Kent State University, Manhattan School of Music, Michigan State University, Peabody Institute at Johns Hopkins University, New England Conservatory, University of Cincinnati, University of Massachusetts-Amherst, University of North Carolina-Greensboro, University of Southern California, and other schools for graduate or further graduate study. Still others have joined touring companies, been admitted to apprenticeship programs, worked as freelance performers, embarked on teaching careers, and contributed to the growth of community outreach programs.
PREPARATORY AND CONTINUING STUDIES
Over 900 students are enrolled on continuing studies and preparatory programs at Longy. We offer classes, ensembles, and lessons to students of all levels and abilities ranging in age from 12 months through 100.
FACULTY
158 faculty members are actively teaching at Longy in 2011-2012. Of these, 30 are considered full-time based on their teaching load.
FINANCIAL
- The fiscal year 2007-08 operating budget is over $6.8 million.
- The market value of the School’s endowed investments is $8.25 million as of June 30, 2007.
