NEWS RELEASE
November 4, 2007
Contact: Christine Paul, Director of Communications
Longy School of Music, One Follen Street, Cambridge, MA 02138
Phone: 617.876.0956 x623

Inauguration Highlights

Presidential Zorn’s Address

Longy School of Music inaugurates Karen Zorn as 10th president

Cambridge, Mass. — With trumpet fanfare and musical compositions that spanned the centuries, Longy School of Music inaugurated Karen Zorn as its 10th president on November 4. The festivities were attended by dignitaries representing universities and communities in the Boston area as well as hundreds of faculty, students and supporters of Longy, now in its 92nd year of training some of the world’s finest musicians.
 
“The City of Cambridge is very pleased to join with the Longy community in welcoming President Zorn,” said Cambridge Mayor Kenneth Reeves. “She has the effervescence, energy and vision that will lead to great accomplishments here.”
 
The inauguration was a celebratory coda to Zorn’s arrival, who began her duties as Longy’s president in February 26, 2007. An accomplished pianist and academic administrator who has published numerous articles on keyboard composition and pedagogy, Zorn has taught piano and performed for more than 20 years throughout the United States and Europe. Before joining Longy, she served as associate provost and associate vice president for academic affairs at Berklee College of Music in Boston.
 
Among inaugural speakers was Brian Moll, chair of Longy’s Collaborative Piano Department, who predicted that Zorn’s dynamic leadership style would lead to a new verb in the lexicon — “to zorn.”
 
Jennifer Newsom, who studied piano under Zorn when Zorn was on the faculty the MacPhail Center for the Arts in Minneapolis from 1993 to 1999, credited her former teacher with imparting the “nuance between notes, the poetry of the octave … and how to approach problems from a multiple of angles,” which has served Newsom well in her profession as an architect for Cooper, Robertson and Partners in New York City.
 
Zorn previously was vice president of faculty at the Conservatory of Music, University of Missouri, Kansas City (1988-1990), where she also served on the continuing studies faculty and earned a master of music in piano performance (1988). She received a bachelor of arts in performance/piano pedagogy from Goshen College, Goshen, Ind. (1984).
 
A native of Lena, Wis., Zorn was delighted to welcome to the inauguration her former band leader and bassoon teacher, Connie Kramer, who continues to teach music at Lane High School in Lena.
 
In her presidential address, Zorn shared her vision for Longy’s future, promising to “redefine the landscape of music-making” and “to keep the doors of support open to young musicians as they prepare to become extraordinary musicians and extraordinary human beings.”
 
The inauguration was followed by a celebratory concert featuring renowned Longy faculty, conservatory students and alumni as well as acclaimed jazz pianist Joanne Brackeen.

About Longy School of Music
Longy School of Music is a world-renowned music conservatory and school of preparatory and continuing music study located in Cambridge, Mass. Founded in 1915, Longy has an outstanding faculty of 150 who provide instruction to more than 1,200 students from 36 states and 26 countries. With a curriculum rooted in the traditions of Western music, Longy’s mission is to prepare musicians to make a difference in the world. It is accredited by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges and the National Association of Schools of Music. For more information, visit Longy on the web at www.longy.edu.