Music Lives at Carthage

As one of the first small liberal arts colleges to offer a degree in music, Carthage provides a rich musical tradition that can be traced back over a century, including the formation of one of the first college bands in America shortly after the Civil War, and one of the oldest college touring choirs in the country.

Today the Carthage Music Department continues to enrich that tradition. The department's 10 full-time and 25 adjunct music faculty serve more than 500 students and 120 music majors and minors.

Carthage students are actively involved in music making and learning through participation in ensembles and workshops. Carthage offers five choral ensembles, two wind bands, a chamber orchestra, a jazz ensemble, and many other small ensemble experiences. We also offer yearly main stage musicals and operas, as well as music theatre and opera workshops.

Music students learn through personal interactions with faculty and guest musicians. Musicians who have visited Carthage include opera singers Nicole Cabell and Dean Peterson, '75; voice specialist Donald Miller; Steinway Artist Stephen Swedish; and composers Rollo Dilworth, Jonathan Newman, Frank Ticheli and Eric Whitacre, as well as the Aspen Ensemble, Fifth House Ensemble, Manhattan Brass, Ying Quartet and Zemlinsky Quartet. Easy access to world-class performances in Milwaukee and Chicago further extend the Carthage learning experience. Touring opportunities include the Midwestern states, Japan, South America and Europe.

Carthage music faculty members hold advanced degrees from some of the world's most prestigious institutions. Faculty include some of the finest performer-teachers in the Milwaukee-Chicago urban corridor. Many perform or have performed with the Lyric Opera, Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra or Chicago Civic Orchestra.

Carthage offers the Bachelor of Arts in Music with emphases in church music, jazz studies, music education, performance and piano pedagogy, as well as a Bachelor of Arts in Musical Theatre. Students interested in pursuing a music major or minor are required to audition for acceptance to the program. The College offers scholarships to music majors, minors and non-majors by audition.

Student Voices

"The drive and passion of my peers is a great strength. However, it is also the passion that I see out of every professor that really strengthens and supports all of us."

— Morgan Gonzales, '14, Charlotte, Mich.

Hear what students have to say about studying music at Carthage.