Dale E. Monson, director of the School of Music at Brigham Young University, has been named new director of the Hugh Hodgson School of Music at the University of Georgia.
Monson succeeds Donald Lowe, who has been director of the school since 2001.
“A truly great university must have a strong and vibrant fine arts program,” said UGA President Michael F. Adams. “The Hugh Hodgson School of Music is an important part of our fine arts program and one of the anchors of the East Campus arts complex. I am excited that Dr. Monson has accepted our offer, and I am looking forward to working with him.”
Monson will begin his work at UGA on July 1.
“I think that Dr. Monson will be an outstanding director, and the school will greatly benefit from his presence,” said Garnett S. Stokes, dean of the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences, of which the music school is a part. “The college and the University of Georgia are committed to further strengthening the school and to providing needed resources to increase the school’s visibility on the national stage. Dr. Monson will surely be vital in helping us achieve that prominence.”
Monson received his bachelor’s degree in clarinet performance at Brigham Young in 1975; his master’s in music theory and orchestral conducting, also from Brigham Young in 1976; and his doctorate in historical musicology from Columbia University in 1982.
“I am thrilled at the opportunity to come to the University of Georgia and to work alongside the faculty, administration and students of the Hugh Hodgson School of Music,” said Monson. “Music in higher education today is built on centuries-old traditions of excellence, on reaching for the highest standards in education and performance and expressed in a love for the art that resounds not only in concert halls, but in the hearts of its students, teachers and audience. The opportunities and future of music at UGA are particularly great, resting on the strong foundation of an inspired faculty, guided by its retiring director, Donald Lowe, and extending through the many others who came before, traced back to Hugh Hodgson himself.”
The School of Music has 304 undergraduate majors and 145 graduate students.
Monson worked on the musicology faculties of the University of Michigan (1982-1991), Penn State (1991-1999) and BYU (1999-present). He has been director of the School of Music at BYU since 2003. He is also director of the Pergolesi Research Center and editor-in-chief of the Pergolesi Complete Works Edition.
As a young clarinetist, he performed in the BYU Philharmonic as a student and was featured as a youth soloist with the Utah Symphony on its “Salute to Youth” program. He studied orchestral conducting and was conductor of the Chamber Orchestra of the Palace of Fine Arts in Mexico City and also has been assistant conductor at the Lake George Opera Festival and of the orchestras at Brigham Young and Columbia universities.
At Brigham Young, Monson has taught music appreciation, music history for majors, graduate surveys and seminars and literature courses. At other institutions he also has taught historical performance practice, the early 20th century, Stravinsky, Romanticism, style analysis, bibliography and research techniques and special topics courses.
