Administrators say construction on Tufts' new music building will start at the end of the spring semester, five years after it was announced and three years after ground was originally supposed to be broken.
"This is really going to happen," Department of Music Chair Janet Schmalfeldt said.
Construction is slated to begin in June 2005 with completion expected by 2006, according to a press release from University President Larry Bacow. But recent meetings with construction companies suggest that "the grounds may very well be broken as early as March 2005," Schmalfeldt said.
A new site was selected for the building this year on Talbot Avenue, currently the home of the parking lot adjacent to the Aidekman Arts Center.
"This will allow for the new building to become part of an enlarged arts complex," Provost Jamshed Bharucha said.
The new building will house the music department and will include a 300-seat recital hall, practice and rehearsal rooms, improved classroom facilities, faculty offices, and a teaching and studio space. The facility will also become home to the University's music library, currently in Aidekman.
According to Vice President of Operations John Roberto, the University's Advancement Division has raised $13 to $14 million for the project. This is the same figure announced last spring, when Roberto said the University would need at least $16.5 million before ground could be broken.
The estimated total cost of the building is around $25 million, according to Bharucha.
The music building must be located in the center of campus, the stipulation of an anonymous donor who gave $4 million to the cause several years ago.
Students and faculty have long awaited the new building, since both say the current facilities substandard. "Being a pianist, it's frustrating to go to the stale basement of Aidekman to find all the rooms being used, since there are less than a dozen rooms available," senior music major Kristy Endo said. "It's depressing to have to use poorly tuned pianos in barely soundproof rooms."
The Department of Music is currently located in the Provost's House at 48 Professor's Row. The department left its original location at 20 Professors Row to make way for Sophia Gordon Hall, which is slated to begin construction after graduation in May.
Bharucha elected not to live in the Provost's House when he came to Tufts in 2002.
Students still have doubts that the new facility will ever be built, however. "I've been hearing rumors about a new music building for two years now, and I haven't seen any progress," Endo said.
"I think it's great that they are planning for a new building," Endo said. "My only concern though, is whether Tufts will actually build it and if they do how long it will take."
Associate Professor of Music David Locke said in an e-mail interview that Tufts has recognized that it needs facilities for music since the 1960s.
"In the early 1990s a music building was selected as a priority in the Tufts 2000 capital campaign," Locke said. "Former President DiBiaggio was an absolutely essential supporter."
But plans are proceeding apace. Schmalfeldt and other music department members are meeting with architects and contractors for four to five hours every two weeks to work on plans for the music building.
According to Schmalfeldt, planning has reached the design and development stage. "It's real now, but it is hard to believe," she said. "We're pinching ourselves so we know it's not a dream."
Tufts had originally planned to build the new music building at on the site of the Zeta Psi house, located at the corner of Packard Avenue and Professors Row.
William Rawn and Associates, the architecture firm working on the University's long-term architectural Master Plan, then decided to preserve the Professors Row set-up as characteristic of Tufts' history as a small New England college.
The location was changed on the heels of a Somerville Historic Preservation Committee decision to block the construction of Sophia Gordon Hall, citing the historical nature of Professors Row.
Locke said construction is being planned to minimize disturbance to music classes and to ensure that the music library will remain functional during the transition. "We do not anticipate any major disruption," he said.
"It will be a wonderful addition to Tufts' facilities in support of the arts and will provide expanded options for our music programs, including student performances," Bharucha said in an e-mail interview.
Schmalfeldt said the new facilities will connect Tufts to its surrounding communities. "The new recital hall will allow us to plan events that may be not only music department based, but community based as well, she said."
"We in the music department are just really thrilled that this is going to happen and we expect that once we really gain beautiful new facilities," Schmalfeldt said. "We will really be in the position to attract stronger students to our music program."
Even non-music majors are looking forward to the building's completion. "I think everyone in the theater community at Tufts feels at home in Aidekman. An addition to the building is something for all the music makers and lovers on campus to really look forward to," freshman Rebecca Schoffer said.
