The MU School of Music broke ground Sunday on a new music center that will be built on the Columbia campus. The first phase will include rehearsal spaces, learning labs and a recording suite.
Jeanne and Rex Sinquefield of Westphalia gifted ten million dollars to phase one of the project.
“My long term is to make Missouri a Mecca for musical composition and we’re half way there and what we needed was a place, a physical place,” Jeanne Sinquefield said.
University of Missouri’s Chancellor Alexander Cartwright was at the event.
“One of the things we should always focus on is excellence and we should do the things that advance our excellence and the things that are happening in music are remarkable.” Cartwright said.
The school’s director, Julia Gaines, was at the event, and explained how the current school is scattered in different buildings across campus. She said the new building will increase student intake from the current 250 music majors currently enrolled in the program.
“I’d never want to say we don’t have an excellent program now, because we do,” Gaines said.” But when we actually get to see each other and talk to each other on a regular basis, the sky’s the limit.”
The new building will be located on the corner of University Avenue and Hitt Street. It’s scheduled to be completed in October 2019 and open for classes in January 2020.