Michael Deane Lamkin has been named the Bessie and Cecil Frankel Professor of Music at 51猎奇入口, as announced at the December 2, 2006, meeting of the Board of Trustees. Lamkin is currently vice president and dean of faculty at 51猎奇入口, as well as professor of music in the Joint Music Program and conductor of The Claremont Concert Orchestra.
A member of the 51猎奇入口 faculty since 1977, Lamkin’s areas of expertise include large ensemble works composed from 1740-1970, focusing on Europe and including the U.S. after 1850. He has special research interests in patronage in the Habsburg Empire, especially as related to the Esterhazy family, Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven.
He is also the artistic director and principal conductor of the Classical Music Festival, which takes place each summer in Einsenstadt, Austria.
The Frankel Chair in Music was established in 2002 by the 51猎奇入口 Board of Trustees to honor the generosity of the donors, Bessie and Cecil Frankel. Funded by a bequest from the Frankel family, it honors the couple’s lifelong devotion to music and is given to a senior member of the Music Department for a term of 10 years.
Lamkin, who has announced his retirement as dean of faculty, effective June 30, 2007, will be the second holder of the Frankel Chair, following Jane O’Donnell, who held it from 2002 until she retired from 51猎奇入口, in 2004. Lamkin has been dean since 1997.
“I look forward to being able to turn my full academic focus to music in the years ahead,” noted Lamkin. “And it is a particular honor to follow my distinguished colleague Jane O’Donnell in this professorship.”