Building campaign hits first movement.

Byline: GREG BOLT The Register-Guard

The University of Oregon School of Music still hopes to orchestrate a $7.6 million fund-raising drive for renovations and additions to its building, but school officials now plan to perform the work in three movements.

Anne Dhu McLucas, outgoing dean of the school, said a tough fund-raising climate has persuaded her and others at the university to divide the campaign into three phases. The overall building plan hasn't changed, but McLucas said cutting the campaign into smaller bites might get things moving more quickly and generate more support for the project.

"Our fond hope is that all three of these phases, once they get rolling, will come in close order," she said. "We need to set our sights on something we can absolutely accomplish."

The total cost of the project remains $15.2 million. The state Legislature has committed half of that in state bonds, and the school is raising the remaining $7.6 million in private donations.

Under the three-phase plan, the first goal will be a $2.6 million academic wing that will include classrooms and practice rooms. The 26,700-square-foot wing will be built on the north side of the existing music building, which is on East 18th Avenue at the southwest corner of campus.

To kick off the first phase, the school will hold a benefit concert at 7 p.m. Sunday in Beall Hall. The concert will feature violinist Alyssa Park and pianist Dean Kramer, two well-known UO performance faculty.

Park is a visiting faculty member this year and earned an international reputation when she won the Tchaikovsky International Competition at age 16.

Kramer, a UO faculty member since 1983, has studied with Vladimir Horowitz and has performed as a soloist with symphonies around the country and in Europe. McLucas said the concert will offer an opportunity for the community to look at plans for the expansion and to tour the existing building, warts and all.

The tours will be conducted by music students, who know the building inside and out because they search out any corner they can find - including stairwells and bathrooms - to use for practice, she said.

Most visitors only see Beall Hall, the crown jewel of the music school and an area that has been well maintained since its 1925 completion, McLucas said.

"They see this lovely space, and of course they think we're in lovely shape," she said. "But as soon as you step outside into the bowels of this place you see that it's not so lovely."

The music building was constructed in pieces beginning with a 1917 barracks building. After Beall Hall, an office and classroom addition came in the 1950s and then a rehearsal wing in the 1970s, but the 500 students and almost 100 full- and part-time faculty are nearly twice its design capacity.

McLucas said the school hoped to attract some large lead donations during an early "silent phase" of fund raising, but the recession coupled with the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks slowed the campaign. Almost $1 million in pledges have come in, but school leaders decided that a public campaign with a phased approach will better suit the philanthropic climate.

John Gibbens, the music school's newly hired development director, said total charitable donations nationwide are at the same level now as they were before Sept. 11.

The challenge is to attract some of the dollars that are available.

"The whole $7.6 million is a huge chunk," he said. "It was felt that dividing it up into three separate campaigns would be easier."

In the second phase, workers will remodel the existing building, including soundproofing practice rooms and adding air conditioning. The third phase will be a new, 9,600-square-foot multimedia performance hall that will allow the school to experiment with new electronic media as well as stage performances combining dance, opera and theater.

But Gibbens said anyone who wants to give to one of the other phases before those campaigns are launched are welcome to jump the gun. He said plans are to have the entire project completed in five to six years.

Authority for the state bonds will expire in July 2003, but state Rep. Al King said he expects no problems getting an extension. King, who championed the financing measure in the 2001 Legislature, backs the shift in strategy and said the music building remains an important part of the state's economic stimulus plan.

"The Legislature and the state of Oregon really want its capital construction projects to succeed," he said. "We really need the School of Music building. I would have huge optimism that we would see continued support for it."

MUSIC SCHOOL BENEFIT

What: Benefit concert to kick off fund raising for the first phase of the School of Music's capital campaign, a $2.6 million academic wing.

When: Sunday, at 7 p.m.

Where: Beall Concert Hall, UO campus.

Cost: Tickets are $30 each; $20 for upper balcony seats.

Performers: Violinist Alyssa Park and pianist Dean Kramer, both well-known UO faculty members.

Program: "Sonata No. 3," by J.S. Bach; "Sonata No. 7 in C Minor," by Beethoven; "Sonata No. 3 in D Minor," by Brahms; and "Tzigane," by Ravel.

Information: 346-4363, or on the Web at music1.uoregon.edu/.