Department of Music
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If you are interested in joining Friends of Music, see our Friends of Music Page here. If you would like to support specific programs or scholarships, click here for more information.
The UCA Department of Music
The UCA Department of Music is an artistic community of over 220+ music majors, graduate and undergraduate, who participate in over 25 student ensembles, including the Bear Marching Band, the Semi-professional Conway Symphony Orchestra, the award-winning Concert Choir and Chamber Singers, and numerous other large and small ensembles including Opera Theatre. Our ensembles have traveled the world to bring UCA music to the masses.
UCA Music is a regional leader in music performance, education, theory, and composition. The program and faculty attract the brightest young musicians from Arkansas, the United States, and the world. The Department of Music holds approximately 200+ performances and events annually. The Friends of Music continues to support the department with attendance and donors, and UCA is making great strides in becoming an All-Steinway School. The brand new Windgate Center for the fine and Performing Arts, opened in January of 2023, boasts 100,000 Sq. Ft. of Artistic Space including Galleries, Recital/Choral Rehearsal Hall, Percussion Suite, a 250 seat Black Box Theatre, practice rooms, a music library, and a 450 seat Performance Hall featuring the latest in performative technology. The Department is involved in partnerships with schools across the globe including East China Normal University, the International Music and Performing Arts Academy, in Saigon, Vietnam among others as well as the Orquesta Filarmónica de Santa Cruz de La Sierra which includes an orchestral festival, concert series, and scholarship competition held in Bolivia.
Artist residencies bring professional performing and visual artists, creative writers, filmmakers, and arts exhibitions to the UCA campus for one or more days for the purpose of expanding student learning experiences. They offer the general student body performances, lectures, and exhibits that enlarge awareness and appreciation of the arts, and provide students participating in the arts with workshops, masterclasses, critiques, etc. that enhance understanding and professionalism. UCA has been able to bring in scores of world-class artists for these residencies. Offering bachelors and masters degrees, the UCA Department of Music is an institutional member of the National Association of Schools of Music.