Celebrate 100 Years of the Lamont School of Music

Author(s)

Lamont School of Music

Announcement • Article •

Creativity & the Arts, Arts & Culture •

October 8, 2024

We invite you to join us during this very special year: the 100th anniversary of the Lamont School of Music. Over its first century, Lamont grew from a modest conservatory into a school of national prominence. Today it has an exceptional faculty, an outstanding facility, and alumni who are enjoying success around the globe in classical music, jazz composition, conducting, scholarship, recording & production, and music business.

Upcoming events in celebration of Lamont's Centennial

Wednesday, November 6, 2024

Lamont Symphony Orchestra Centennial Concert

Step back in time with the Lamont School of Music as we celebrate our 100th Anniversary with "1924 Revisited." This special event pays homage to the year of our founding with a selection of iconic works that premiered in 1924, performed by our talented students, faculty, and distinguished alumni.

7:30 p.m.
Gates Concert Hall

Details & Tickets

Friday, January 31, 2025

Linda Wang and Friends: A String Centennial Celebration through the Centuries

In honor of Lamont’s Centennial, violinist Linda Wang will be joined by the full Lamont string faculty for Mendelssohn’s Octet (1825) and Vivaldi’s Four Seasons (1725).

7:30 p.m.
Hamilton Recital Hall

Details & Tickets

Thursday, February 13, 2025

Lamont Choirs

This concert, with the Chorale conducted by Catherine Sailer, will feature a world premiere by M. Roger Holland, II in honor of Lamont's Centennial, and commissioned by Lamont. Details and ticketing link to come.

7:30 p.m.
Gates Concert Hall

Monday, February 24, 2025

Lamont Jazz Orchestra

This concert, conducted by Remy Le Boeuf, will feature a world premiere by Le Boeuf in honor of Lamont's Centennial, and commissioned by Lamont. Details and ticketing link to come.

7:30 p.m.
Gates Concert Hall

Wednesday, March 12, 2025

Lamont Wind Ensemble

This concert, conducted by Joseph Martin, will feature a world premiere by Sean Friar in honor of Lamont's Centennial, and commissioned by Lamont. Details and ticketing link to come.

7:30 p.m.
Gates Concert Hall

Saturday, March 15, 2025

Through the Centuries: A Chamber Music Miscellany

Join us for this chamber music event featuring works from 1724, 1624, 1524, and even earlier. Spearheaded by Lamont faculty member Zoe Weiss, it will include performances by members of the Lamont Baroque Orchestra and Consort of Viols, as well as singers from the Medieval and Renaissance Music courses. Details and ticketing link to come.

7:30 p.m.
Hamilton Recital Hall

Thursday, May 22

Choral Department Centennial Celebration

Alumni are invited to join the Lamont choirs for a combined piece on this concert. Details and ticketing will be announced in early 2025.

7:30pm
Gates Concert Hall

Donate in honor of Lamont's 100th

Funds raised this year will have a special focus on student scholarships

Donate

A Brief History of the Lamont School of Music

The Lamont School of Music was founded in 1924 as a private academy under the supervision of Florence Lamont Hinman. Hinman was born in Michigan in 1884 and pursued her musical studies at the London (Ontario) conservatory. She came to Colorado as a teenage tuberculosis patient and stayed on after her recovery. She continued her studies and became a noted singer and accompanist, active nationally.

Under Ms. Hinman's direction, the school flourished, becoming an important cultural fixture in Denver's arts scene throughout the 1920s and 30s. The original school was located at 1170 Sherman St., in a building that no longer stands. It was accredited by the State of Colorado in 1925 to award Bachelor, Master, and Doctor degrees in music. There was also a preparatory department and a juvenile department, for younger students.

The school merged with the University of Denver in 1941, moving to the Brown Mansion on the corner of 9th and Grant streets, and remaining under Ms. Hinman’s directorship until her retirement in 1952. It moved to a building at 2100 S. Josephine in 1958, and moved again in 1978 to building nearby at 2101 S. Josephine. Roger Dexter Fee, one of Ms. Hinman's vocal proteges, was named the school's second director.

In 1985, after DU acquired the assets of the Colorado Women’s College, the School of Music moved to the CWC campus on the corner of Montview and Quebec. Despite its separation from DU's main campus for many years, the Lamont School of Music persevered, and was poised for expansion and development. Both followed with the appointment of the school's fifth director, F. Joseph Docksey. In 1988, the Lamont School of Music's enrollment totaled 116 music majors at both the graduate and undergraduate levels; by 2001, enrollment jumped to 256; and by 2007, the school had reached its strategic enrollment cap of 300 music majors. Students and faculty moved into the state-of-the-art Robert and Judi Newman Center for the Performing Arts in 2002. In February 2005, the Lamont School of Music was recognized by the city of Denver with the Mayor's Award for Excellence in the Arts.

A History of Lamont in Pictures

Florence Lamont Hinman.
Exterior view of the Lamont School of Music building at 909 Grant Street on the University of Denver campus in Denver, Colorado, which was home to the school from 1941 to 1985.
From 1958 to 1985, the Lamont School of Music was located in the Houston Fine Arts Center at 2100 S. Josephine.
The recital hall within the Houston Fine Arts Center.
The year 2000 welcomed the groundbreaking for the University of Denver Newman Center for the Performing Arts. Chancellor Dan Ritchie is visible fourth from the left.
Lamont Faculty Chamber Ensemble in 1957, from left to right: Earl Schuman, Wilhelm Schwarzott, and Fred Hoeppnex.
A performance of Shakespeare's "Twelfth Night" from 1992
Chancellor Dan Ritchie conducting the Lamont Symphony Orchestra.