University of Mary Washington Then & Now

A Photography Exhibition

Posts in the Music category

Orchestra Concerts

During the 1930s when President Combs and Dean Alvey were running the College, Ronald W. Faulkner was hired in 1937 for music and arts.1 His job was to create an “academic program in instrumental music,” but he surpassed this expectation and also created a concert orchestra, a dance orchestra, and a marching band.2 In 1971, James Baker,” (who joined the music faculty in 1965,)3 created a new orchestra that by combining local musicians with the student musicians in order to “established close ties to the area.” It was called the Mary Washington College-Community Symphony Orchestra.” 4 Later in 1976, Dominion Bank provided funds for the College-Community Orchestra “to underwrite an additional performance” to their three annual performances, and thus was born the Pops Concert.5

Today, the College-Community Orchestra is known as the University of Mary Washington Philharmonic Orchestra. Continuing on into its 43rd year, the University of Mary Washington Philharmonic Orchestra has 90 members and “is one of the most successful organizations on campus.” 6 The orchestra has about six concerts annually, and also performs annually for the UMW Commencement exercises in May.7

Show 7 footnotes

  1. William B. Crawley Jr., University of Mary Washington: A Centennial History, 1908-2008 (Fredericksburg: University of Mary Washington Foundation, 2008), 35. ↩
  2. Ibid. ↩
  3. Ibid. ↩
  4. Ibid., 627. ↩
  5. Ibid., 225. ↩
  6. UMW Philharmonic Orchestra,“About the Philharmonic,” University of Mary Washington, http://philharmonic.umw.edu/about-the-orchestra/(Accessed April 6, 2014). ↩
  7. Ibid. ↩

Fine Arts Center (Dupont, Pollard, Melchers)

The Fine Arts Center was built in the 1950s, during a wave of new construction across campus.1 The trio of buildings consists of DuPont, Melchers, and Pollard, which now house the departments of art, art history, music, and theatre & dance. DuPont is named in honor of Jessie Ball duPont, a prominent philanthropist.2 Melchers is named in honor of Julius Garibaldi “Gari” Melchers, an internationally-acclaimed painter who moved to Fredericksburg in his later years. After his death, his wife, Corinne, became a prominent benefactor of the arts.3 Pollard is named in honor of John Garland Pollard, Governor of Virginia during the Great Depression. While the dire economic conditions of the era limited the aid he could give to the school, he did help with the authorizing of resources for construction projects on campus, notably those for Seacobeck Hall.4   At the center of DuPont Hall is Klein Theatre, named for instructor of dramatic arts Albert R. Klein. He was a member of the theatre faculty from 1952 until his death in 1970; the following year the theatre was renamed in his honor.5 The Fine Arts Center was renovated in the mid-1990s, updating the facilities which had originally been built in the 1950s, including the addition of a computer lab in Melchers.6

Dupont Then Resized

Fine Arts Center, 1953
"Fine Arts Center," 1953, The Centennial Collection, UMW Digital Archives, University of Mary Washington.

Dupont Now Resized

Dupont, 2014
Alexandria Parrish, “Dupont,” February 19 2014, Personal Collection of Alexandria Parrish. University of Mary Washington.
Fine Arts Center dedication 1953 Resized

Fine Arts Center dedication, 1953
“Fine Arts Center dedication,” 1953, The Centennial Collection, UMW Digital Archives, University of Mary Washington.

Fine Arts Center Now Resized

Melchers, 2014
Alexandria Parrish, “Melchers,” February 19 2014, Personal Collection of Alexandria Parish. University of Mary Washington.

Show 6 footnotes

  1. William B. Crawley Jr., University of Mary Washington: A Centennial History, 1908-2008 (Fredericksburg: University of Mary Washington Foundation, 2008), 57. ↩
  2. Jessie Ball duPont Fund: About Us, “Our History,” Jessie Ball duPont Fund, http://www.dupontfund.org/about/history/(Accessed April 18, 2014). ↩
  3. Crawley, 226-27. ↩
  4. Ibid., 31. ↩
  5. University of Mary Washington Theatre & Dance, “Klein Theatre,” University of Mary Washington, http://cas.umw.edu/theatre/online-tour/klein-theatre/(Accessed April 17, 2014). ↩
  6. Crawley, 572-74. ↩
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