Type | Private |
---|---|
Active | 1886 | –1991
Location | Chicago |
The American Conservatory of Music (ACM) was a major American school of music founded in 1886 by John James Hattstaedt (1851–1931). The conservatory was incorporated as an Illinois non-profit corporation. It was located in Chicago until 1991 when its Board of Trustees — chaired by Frederic Wilbur Hickman (b. 1927) — voted to close the institution, file for Chapter 7 bankruptcy, liquidate the assets, and dissolve the corporation. An organization in Hammond, Indiana and Belize, currently uses the name "American Conservatory of Music" and identifies itself as the reorganized continuation of the Chicago institution.
For over a century, many prominent artists such as Sergei Rachmaninoff's colleague Josef Lhévinne and later his student Adele Marcus taught master classes in piano and other instruments at the American Conservatory.
From the post-WWII years to the late 1960s, Irwin Fischer, composer, pianist, and conductor, served as Dean of Faculty and conductor of the American Conservatory Orchestra. Violinist Scott Willits coached many members of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra from 1940 to 1974. Pianist Wilhelmina Pouget, student of Walter Gieseking, specialized in late Romantic piano technique in the 1970s. Acclaimed pianist William Browning, heir of the Brahms-Schumann piano dynasty and one of the legendary pianists and teachers of the 20th century, was on faculty from 1957 to 1989.
Coordinates: 41°52′49″N 87°37′29″W / 41.88028°N 87.62472°W