As dean of Chicago College of Performing Arts (CCPA) it is my pleasure to welcome you to our College’s home page site!

CCPA is a college focused on professional training within a both competitive and supportive conservatory environment. Our mission is to provide each student with rich and important artistic and academic experiences. These experiences are led by our extraordinary faculty which includes actors with credits from Broadway and national regional theatre; twenty-five members of the Chicago Symphony and Lyric Opera of Chicago Orchestras, and former members of the Philadelphia Orchestra, Boston Symphony, Israel Philharmonic, and Berlin Philharmonic; Metropolitan Opera and Lyric Opera of Chicago singers; numerous Grammy winning and nominated jazz artists; soloists and chamber musicians, including Shmuel Ashkenasi, First Violin of the Vermeer String Quartet; and academic faculty with degrees from the very best research institutions in the country.

Our students come from more than 40 states (less than a third are from Illinois) and 25 countries such as Australia, Bulgaria, China, Israel, Italy, Japan, Macedonia, Slovakia, South Korea, Spain, Taiwan, Mongolia, United Kingdom, Uruguay, and Yugoslavia. They come to the great city of Chicago to study with our faculty of professional artists and participate in the incredibly rich cultural life that dominates this world-class city.

This year’s freshman came from each corner of the country – California, Florida, Washington, and Maine (80 percent came from outside Illinois) and across the world. They came from such high schools as Castle Hill High School (Australia), West Fargo High School (ND), Shenyang Conservatory (China), Denver School of the Arts (CO), Seoul Arts High School (South Korea), Cuidad de San Felipe High School (Uraguay), K. Szymanowskiego Music High School (Poland), Interlochen Arts Academy (MI), Walnut Hill School (MA), LaGuardia High School of Music and Art (New York City), Wauwatosa East High School (WI), New World School of the Arts (Miami), Barry Goldwater High School (Phoenix), Portsmouth High School (ME), Waubonsie Valley High School (IL), New Trier High School East (Winnetka, IL), Sumter High School (SC), Olathe North High School (KS), Ann Arbor Pioneer High School (MI), University High School (Irvine, CA), Duke Ellington School of the Arts (DC), Nampa Christina High School (ID), and four Chicago high Schools – Lincoln Park, Chicago Waldorf School, Lane Technical, and Whitney Young

The entering graduate class attended an array of prestigious undergraduate institutions, including Cleveland Institute of Music, Rice University, Royal Academy of Music (UK), University of Maryland, Morehouse College, Indiana University, Conservatory of Music (Zaragoza, Spain), University of Texas at Austin, Boston University, Karlstads University (Sweden), Oberlin College, McGill University (Canada), SUNY-Purchase and SUNY-New Paltz, University of Cincinnati, University of Central Florida, and University of Central Arkansas.

At CCPA we believe that there is no better way to build a professional career than by working in the profession while still in school. That is why each year one quarter of our students are involved in professional apprentice and young artist programs with such venerable institutions such as the Chicago Symphony’s Civic Orchestra of Chicago, Goodman Theatre, Chicago Opera Theater, Steppenwolf Theatre, Grant Park Music Festival; Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, and American Theatre Company, to name just a few.

From Mamma Mia!, Tarzan, Spamalot, and Beauty and the Beast on Broadway to two members of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, from the Principal Second Violin of the Lyric Opera of Chicago Orchestra to Principal Horn of the Seoul (South Korea) Philharmonic, and from a national tour with Tommy Tune to a 2007 district winner of the MET Competition, our students and recent alumni have made their way onto the great stages of the world during and shortly after their studies at CCPA.

The College is located in the historic landmark Auditorium Building designed by famed architects Louis Sullivan and Dankmar Adler. These architects were two of the most famous architects of their time and this building is one of their great triumphs and the largest surviving structure created by this great architectural pair. Rudolph Ganz Memorial Hall is a stunning recital hall and the 3700-seat Auditorium Theatre of Roosevelt University is an amazing triumph in both architecture and acoustics (see “Auditorium Building” for more information on our building).

Finally, the College is truly fortunate to also have at its core a group of dedicated civic and arts leaders who support the College and expand its importance and influence through their membership on the CCPA Board (see “CCPA Board” for a listing of members and their institutional and/or corporate affiliations).

I encourage you to search our site and explore all that makes up Chicago College of Performing Arts. I am sure you will find this wonderful place as special as I do.

Sincerely,






James Gandre, Dean
Chicago College of Performing Arts

CCPA Board

Music Faculty

Theatre Faculty

Administration/Staff

Student Recital Calendar

Concert Calendar

CCPA Fall 2007 Newsletter

CCPA Alumni
(coming soon)

Directions

Auditorium Theatre
of Roosevelt University
Chicago's Landmark Stage

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