Longy School of Music

Boston Symphony oboist Georges Longy founded the Longy School of Music in 1915 as a center for rigorous musical study, with an emphasis on developing “whole” musicians. Located near Harvard Square in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the school now enrolls 210 students pursuing degrees or diplomas in its Conservatory and another 900 non-degree students in its Preparatory and Continuing Studies programs. In the spring of 2006, the School’s Board of Trustees approved a new mission statement: The Longy School of Music prepares musicians to make a difference in the world. In keeping with this mission, the School is currently launching an innovative Experiential Education program for its Conservatory students, which will require them to develop and implement a music-based program in a non-traditional setting. Longy’s full-time students pursue the Undergraduate Diploma, the Bachelor of Music Degree (offered through an agreement with Emerson College), the Master of Music Degree, the Graduate Performance Diploma, the Artist Diploma, or the Dalcroze Certificate and License. Undergraduate areas of study include composition and performance (organ, piano, strings, voice, or woodwinds and brass). Graduate programs are available in those areas as well as collaborative piano, Dalcroze Eurhythmics, early music, modern American music (a program combining advanced study in jazz and American classical music), and opera. The school offers a range of supporting programs including seminars, masterclasses, chamber music, chamber orchestra, orchestral studies courses, rigorous music theory and ear-training coursework, and a “mind/body” program providing access to such fields as the Alexander Technique and the Feldenkrais Method. The School boasts an outstanding faculty representing many of the region’s preeminent music organizations. Close faculty-student interaction is a hallmark of a Longy education, and students work alongside faculty in numerous activities at the school as colleagues-in-training.