Douglas Lowry, dean of the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, is one of two or three finalists for the position of dean of the Flora L. Thornton School of Music at the University of Southern California.

Lowry

        The news comes at a critical time for the prestigious Cincinnati school. The renowned teacher of violin virtuosos, Dorothy DeLay, died in March. Opera department chair Malcolm Fraser has been on a year-long medical leave, and a search for his replacement will begin next year. Dance division head Carol Iwasaki, who left in June 2001, has not been replaced.

        Mr. Lowry, 51, confirmed that he met with USC's search committee earlier this year, but he said he has not made a final decision about continuing as a candidate.

        He said Thursday that he hoped to make a decision soon. He has been in an “ongoing set of discussions” with senior UC administrators, who, he said, were supportive. Mr. Lowry is in the second year of a five-year term.

        “My steadfast and unwavering goal is to retain Douglas Lowry as dean of CCM,” said UC Provost Anthony J. Perzigian, who was involved in the hiring of Mr. Lowry. Because competition was fierce among several major music schools searching for new leaders from a small pool of qualified candidates, Mr. Lowry's UC appointment was called a coup.

CCM PROF A FINALIST

Xian Zhang, 28, an assistant professor of conducting at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, is one of six finalists in the new Maazel/Vilar Conductors' Competition.     Ms. Zhang, a native of Beijing, will conduct the Orchestra of St. Luke's in New York's Carnegie Hall for the finals in September.     She competed against 350 applicants from 43 countries.     The competition was launched in January 2001 by conductor Lorin Maazel, music director-designate of the New York Philharmonic, and billionaire philanthropist Alberto Vilar.

        Mr. Lowry came to Cincinnati in August 2000 from USC, where he had been associate dean and on the faculty since 1983. Mr. Lowry said he was attracted to CCM because of its stature as one of the country's top university programs for music.

        The UC school was ranked by U.S. News and World Report in 1997, its most recent rankings, as the country's sixth top university program for pursuing graduate studies in music, third in voice and fifth in conducting. It is the largest single source of performances in Ohio: Its 1,400 students present nearly 1,000 performances a year; 100,000 people annually attend concerts in Corbett Auditorium.

        CCM graduates join major orchestras such as the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, sing in the world's best opera houses, perform on Broadway and work for universities, radio and TV stations.

        USC's Thornton School tied with New York's Manhattan School of Music when it was ranked 12th by U.S. News in 1999. Although the school confirmed that Mr. Lowry is a candidate, USC's provost was unavailable for comment.

        Mr. Lowry was named dean of CCM in May 2000, several months after the school dedicated its $93.2 million campus village, the project of his predecessor, Robert J. Werner.

        “I have very strong feelings about CCM and the University of Cincinnati,” Mr. Lowry said. “I feel that we planted some seeds that are just beginning to sprout on some new initiatives that I think are important for the school and for the city.”

        Among Mr. Lowry's initiatives is a new relationship between CCM and the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra to hold joint master classes, concerts or other events.

        “A current departure of the dean would be very destructive to CCM,” said Kurt Sassmannshaus, head of CCM's string department. “He's just started to implement a number of positive developments.”

        A distinguished faculty attracts the best students and gives a music school national and international acclaim. The dean has been working “to make sure that CCM continues to be one of the major places for string teaching in the country,” Mr. Sassmannshaus said.

        “It would be devastating to CCM if the dean left now,” echoed Eugene Pridonoff, professor of piano and artist-in-residence.
       

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