Dates

• Existence: 1906
• Usage: 1959

Parallel Names

• Conservatory of Music of Kansas City
• Horner Institute of Fine Arts
• Kansas City Conservatory of Music and Art
• Kansas City-Horner Conservatory of Music
• Kansas City-Horner Conservatory of Music

Biography

The UMKC Conservatory was founded first as the Kansas City Conservatory of Music by John Cowan in 1906. It is the oldest continuously operating musical institution in the Kansas City area, and the only Conservatory at a public university in Missouri.

In 1916, Cowan turned over the original Conservatory to the City of Kansas City, Missouri. This made it the first publicly owned and supported music conservatory in the country. In 1926, the Conservatory merged with the Horner Institute of Fine Arts. Charles Horner had founded the Horner Institute in 1914. By 1929, the Conservatory became the third largest music institution in the country with more than 4,000 students.

By 1934, the Horner Institute changed its name to the Conservatory of Music of Kansas City. With an arrangement with the University of Kansas City, Conservatory of Music students received credits for their required arts and sciences courses at UKC. By 1959, the Conservatory of Music of Kansas City merged with the University of Kansas City.

The UMKC Conservatory's areas of study include composition, music theory, and musicology; dance; instrumental studies; jazz studies; keyboard studies; music education and music therapy; vocal studies; and theatre. The UMKC Conservatory became one of the first institutions in the United States to offer a dual-emphasis program in ballet and modern dance in the 1980s. The UMKC Theatre department joined the UMKC Conservatory in July 2019.

Found in 1 Collection or Record: