School of Music takes Baylor to Belgium for two weeks of performances

Over the next two weeks, 24 professors from Baylor’s School of Music will invade Belgium, presenting 21 concerts and recitals, 78 master classes and workshops, 12 scholarly lectures and presentations, and seven governmental relations events. The scope of “Baylor in Belgium: An American Music Festival” is unprecedented among American universities, as Baylor representatives will appear in 16 different cities, including appearances in all of Belgium’s major music conservatories and in a host of music academies for high-school age students.

During the trip, the annual International Contemporary Music Festival will showcase the musical compositions of Baylor faculty composer Dr. Scott McAllister. Another professor (and alumnus), Dr. Loyd Hawthorne, will conduct the Belgium National Radio Choir in two concerts, while other Baylor faculty members will conduct and perform in major public concerts in Brussels and Antwerp.

The goal of all this? Besides the obvious “flinging our green and gold afar” and sharing the Baylor name internationally, the School of Music aims to establish relationships with music colleagues in Europe while offering our own faculty new experiences, which in turn will make them better teachers for students back home in Waco. Both of those purposes help fulfill the goal of emphasizing global education detailed in Baylor’s Vision 2012, as today’s students increasingly enter a world in which they must be comfortable thinking not only regionally or nationally, but globally.

Sic ’em in Belgium, Baylor School of Music!