DEC 16, 1891 Orchestrating Stanfordian Sound
Almost immediately after Stanford University opened its doors, the Stanford Symphony Orchestra became an official campus …
Music
1895 Pioneers of Periodization
Stanford Juniors of the class of 1896 publish The Stanford Quad, the university’s first yearbook. These …
1895 Carolers coalesce with glee
The Stanford Glee Club appears in the first issue of the Stanford yearbook (Quad, 1895), followed …
MAR 1902 The Mormon Tabernacle Choir sings “Hail, Stanford, Hail” at a campus concert
Written and composed in 1892 by mechanical engineering Professor Albert W. Smith and his wife, Mary …
JAN 25, 1903 Memorial Church is christened
The dedicatory service of Memorial Church marks a milestone event in the artistic life at Stanford. …
MAR 1905 Memorial Church mourns its patroness
The Memorial Church hosts a funeral service to honor Jane Stanford. Inscriptions engraved into the church’s …
1911 Thespian students unite
The founding of Ram’s Head Theatrical Society marks one of the most enduring legacies created …
1913 Reconstruction and Rededication
Seven years after the Great Earthquake, the Memorial Church reopens its doors. The material resurrection of …
1918 Graced by Polyhymnia, W.D. Allen raises the standards of sacred song
Warren Dwight Allen becomes the first long-standing University Organist at Memorial Church and changes the face …
June 1918 The Knoll is built
On a knoll overlooking the campus and Lagunita, a large official residence (the first provided by …
NOV 19, 1921 Stanford Stadium Opens
Well known as the home of the Stanford Football team, the stadium also hosted musical events …
MAY 14, 1922 Alumni reunite amid vaudevillian interludes
Although alumni reunions occurred before the 1920s, the 1923 Quad documents the first alumni reunion held …
MAR 2, 1931 From Broadway to the barn: Paul Robeson on campus
With the support of the ASSU, the illustrious singer, actor, and Civil Rights activist Paul Robeson …
1934 Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge endows a series of concerts with the Pro Arte String Quartet
The success of the summer concerts led to the quartet being invited back for return engagements …
JAN 30, 1935 Students in triune harmony
An inaugural joint concert featuring the Stanford Band, Symphony Orchestra, and Glee Club marks the first …
FEB 14, 1935 Mr. Stravinsky, will you be my Valentine?
The ASSU concert series procures Igor Stravinsky to perform alongside violinist Samuel Dushkin. The 1934/1935 season …
1936 Boys and ballet draw crowds
The 1936 ASSU concert series wedded music to dance by inviting the Vienna Boys Choir and …
JUN 13, 1937 Laurence Frost Amphitheater dedicated
Frost Amphitheater, the 20-acre bowl designed by landscape architect Leslie Kiler (class of 1924), was a …
AUG 10, 1937 "Friends of Music” established
Mrs. Herbert Hoover invited a group of friends to help fund the following year’s series of …
NOV 14, 1941 Dances with Duke
Duke Ellington and his band members play for dancers at the Sophomore Cotillion. Ellington’s jazzy overtones …
1946 The Division of Music within the School of Humanities moves into the Knoll, using the space for teaching, library, and practice space
The following year it is reorganized as the Department of Music. The Announcement of Courses for …
1946 Yehudi Menuhin appointed Consulting Professor in the Division of Music
Although Menuhin’s appointment was only brief, his association with Adolph Baller, who became a lecturer in …
1947 Harold-ing Choral Splendor
The beloved Harold C. Schmidt assumes directorship over the Stanford University Choir. With Jane Stanford’s insistence, …
JAN 6, 1947 Stanford goes live with KZSU
Stanford’s radio station KZSU (originally KSU) makes its first live broadcast under the auspices of the …
MAY 27, 1948 Stanford Opera Workshop production of Benjamin Britten’s Peter Grimes
Benjamin Britten’s first and perhaps best-known opera, Peter Grimes, is given its first West Coast production …
1949 Sandor Salgo arrives at Stanford
The Hungarian-born American conductor, violinist and scholar, Sandor Salgo, was born into a Jewish family in …
1951 Music Guild established
Former members of the “Friends of Music” form a new group, the “Music Guild.” Their stated …
FEB 2, 1951 Sashaying to Satchmo
Stanford students’ penchant for social dancing and jazz music co-mingled in the ASSU-sponsored Louis Armstrong Dance. …
MAY 23, 1957 Dinkelspiel Auditorium opens
Hailed with much fanfare as the “theater of tomorrow,” the Florence Hellman Dinkelspiel Memorial Auditorium opened …
1959 Archive of Recorded Sound established at the Knoll
For further details see entry under 2009 (“The Stanford Archive of Recorded Sound celebrates its 50th …
NOV 11, 1959 Folk Arts and the Political Stage
The recently formed Folk Music Club presents its first campus concert. This event coincides with a …
1963 Choreographed Chaos: the Stanford Band scatters
The controversial dismissal of Stanford Band Director Jules Schucat in 1963 sowed the seeds of protest. …
1963 Student vocalists hold their own
The formation of the Stanford Mendicants, the university’s oldest a cappella group, peppered college life with …
AUG 9, 1964 First daughter at Frost
President Lyndon B. Johnson’s daughter, Luci Johnson, attends a concert at Stanford’s Frost Amphitheater. Frost hosted …
1964 Inaugural Stanford Summer Festival of the Arts
Stanford celebrates Shakespeare’s 400th birthday by opening a Summer Festival of the Arts with an Elizabethan …
OCT 1965 “Stanford Jazz Year ’65-’66” is launched
A student-organized nine-month series of jazz concerts, lectures, films, and exhibits is launched with fall quarter …
1969 Lively Arts at Stanford founded as presenting organization for the performing arts at Stanford
Lively Arts was formed to “curate experiences that engage artists’ and audiences’ imagination, creativity, and sense …
1971 Native American arts wow in first annual Powwow
The first Stanford Powwow marks students’ initiative to educate the public on the complexity of Native …
1972 Hispanic heritage in motion
With the founding of Ballet Folklorico de Stanford began the first enduring student organization to honor …
1972 Mem Chu music gets medieval
Professor William Mahrt, a medieval musicologist with the Stanford Music Department, establishes the Early Music Singers. …