President Jill Beck, along with Lawrence University’s Conservatory of Music, has recently unveiled a summer internship program targeted towards conservatory students. The program, commencing this summer, will parallel Lawrence’s LU-R1 science research initiative launched in 2010.
“Conservatory Squared — Grow Your Music Career Exponentially” consists of eight internship opportunities in conjunction with Lawrence alumni who work in a variety of music-related industries all around the globe.
“[This program] allows conservatory students to go beyond the walls of the Con, the practice rooms and the performance halls, to go out into the world and explore all sorts of different facets of a musical life,” stressed Dean of the Conservatory Brian Pertl.
One of the opportunities consists of a partnership with Oberlin’s Conservatory of Music to offer internships in two of their summer programs. The first is Oberlin’s Baroque Performance Institute, where students will arrive two weeks before the program begins to help prepare and then take part in the session for the duration of the summer. The second is a five-week intensive opera program, which will take place in the city of Arezzo, Italy.
Javier Arau ’98 will guide a Lawrence student through a summer long internship at his New York Jazz Academy. The student will gain exposure to administration as well as assistance in teaching in an assortment of jazz disciplines.
A gift of $25,000 from the Olga Herberg Administrative Trust will fund each internship. Students will also receive stipends in varying amounts, based on the opportunity in which they are placed.
The Beit Yehuda Guest House Amphitheatre in Israel offers an internship managing the booking of the hotel’s stage with plays and concerts. The facility is located among the foothills of Givat Massuah, a short distance from Jerusalem.
The application process is run entirely online. It requires a recommendation from a professor and a short essay. Students can apply to as many internships as they would like, but are suggested to apply to the programs in which they believe they can gain experience in a field they have a prior interest in.
Although the program is targeted at conservatory students, any student is eligible to apply. Pertl mentioned, “We have a lot of really fine musicians that might not be majors [in the conservatory]: They might be B.A.s, they might be physicists — and we don’t want to cut them out.”
“In future years, I hope that this expansion will include the social sciences and humanities, if student and faculty demand is there,” said Beck.
“Our students will be able to have all of these experiences and these alumni will be able to see how wonderful Lawrence students are… the students will come back and share these ideas in the Lawrence community,” explained Pertl.
He then added, “Hopefully it will be a win-win-win.”