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The Shepherd School has existed in name since 1950, with an $8 million endowment by Sallie Shepherd Perkins in honor of her grandfather, Houston banker Benjamin A. Shepherd.[3] It was opened in 1974 under the deanship of conductor and composer Samuel Jones.[4] The school's building, Alice Pratt Brown Hall, was dedicated on October 4, 1991.[3] Prior to its existence, concerts were given in Hamman Hall, Cohen House, Fondren Library’s Kyle Morrow Room, Rice Memorial Chapel, Milford House, and various churches in Houston.[4]
Shepherd students participate in a program that allows for individual study at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. Courses are taught exclusively by faculty, with classes averaging fewer than thirty students. A small number of courses are offered to Rice University students as a whole (without special admission requirements), including Fundamentals of Music, Music Theory for Non-Music Majors I and II, and Music Literature for Non-Music Majors I and II.
The voice and opera program includes about thirty students and presents two operas each year.
Admission to the Shepherd School is competitive. Shepherd accepts about 10-15% of graduate applicants[6] and 15% of all undergraduate applicants.[7]
Concerts
Each year more than 400 free concerts and recitals are given by students, faculty, and visiting artists and attract about 70,000 concert-goers annually.[8] Numerous world-renowned classical musicians have come to the Shepherd School to give concerts and conduct master classes, including Yo-Yo Ma,[9]André Watts,[10]Itzhak Perlman,[11]Cecilia Bartoli,[12] and Renée Fleming.[13]
Facilities
The school's home, Alice Pratt Brown Hall houses the 1,000-seat Stude Concert Hall, the 250-seat Duncan Recital Hall, the Edythe Bates Old Grand Organ and Recital Hall, an opera studio, 65 practice rooms, seven classrooms, rehearsal and small ensemble spaces and 54 teaching studios.[14] Situated on the western side of the Rice campus, it is made up of two long parallel wings joined by gardens and connecting corridors of loggias.[14] The building was designed by the Spanish architect Ricardo Bofill and completed in 1991.[3]
In September 2017, the Shepherd School broke ground on a new opera and music building that will be connected to Alice Pratt Brown Hall by a plaza.[15] The Brockman Music and Performing Arts Center was completed in 2022 and features a newly constructed theater building.[16]
Preparatory program
The Michael P. Hammond Preparatory Program[17] of the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University offers non-credit private instruction in piano and selected string (violin and cello) instruments for children ages 6–18. Pre-school classes for very young children begin as early as age two through the Young Children's Division.[18] Chamber music groups, group theory instruction, and classes for the young child are also available.
