Page 26 - Laker Connection Fall 2009

Shining the International Spotlight on Clayton State University
By Sherryl Nelson
Spivey Hall
atic bass Samuel Ramey. Word of Spivey Hall’s acoustical gifts, quality Steinways and Ruffatti organ spread quickly among top classical artists and their managers, as well as among music aficionados throughout the Southeast U.S. In 1992, when the Ital- ian-built Ruffatti pipe organ was dedicated in memory of humanitarian-organist Al- bert Schweitzer, a new surge of inter- national press put Spivey Hall in the center ring of the pipe organ world. By 1998 and again in 2002, The Royal Bank Calgary International Organ Com- petition, the world’s most prestigious pipe organ competition, chose Spivey Hall to host the semi-final rounds for all of North America.
Spivey Hall has also showcased in- spired performances by Clayton State music students and faculty -- leading to a prestigious academic partnership with one of the world’s top music conserva- tories, the Liszt Academy in Budapest, Hungary. In addition, musicians and ensemble leaders from Georgia and surrounding states vie for performance dates and record their finest work for broadcast and recordings and hun- dreds of thou-
sands of students
from Atlanta area
schools attend
dozens of annual
educational pro-
grams that began
in 1992 in collabo-
ration with the
community part-
ners and educa-
tors on the Spivey
Hall Education
Committee.
Millions of music lovers throughout the U.S. and abroad grew to know Spivey Hall thanks to countless national and local public radio and television broadcasts. Spivey Hall recordings by legendary choral conductor Robert Shaw on Telarc, NPR Classics holiday CDs, Metropolitan Opera soprano
Spivey Hall introduces millions of music lovers from around the world to Clayton State University. Spivey Hall’s role in the history of Clayton State established the Univer-
sity as the Southeast’s pre-eminent classical recital presenter on the inter- national map.
Enchanted by the beauty of the Clayton State campus and attracted by the college’s Lyceum programs, Emilie Parmalee Spivey and Dr. Walter Boone Spivey entrusted Dr. Harry Downs with their vision and assets to create a world-class recital hall to serve as a cul- tural center for the communities where they made their home. The Spiveys were prominent Atlantans who suc- cessfully developed the Lake Spivey and Lake Jodeco residential areas. A professional organist and patron of the arts, Emilie traveled internationally to hear the greatest
artists in the world’s
best concert halls.
She invited world renowned musicians to the home she furnished with elegant European antiques. Today many of these furnishings are found in Spivey Hall and are enjoyed by patrons and visiting guest artists.
Emilie Spivey’s worldview and un- derstanding of classical music present- ing, her perspective as an artist, and
her aspirations for excellence are manifest in the design of Spivey Hall. Sadly Emilie and Walter did not live to see Spivey Hall completed, but thanks to the dedicated stewardship of Dr. Downs and his successors, her dreams came to life when Spivey Hall earned international acclaim as a world-class hall and concert series.
Spivey Hall opened in 1991 with recitals by superstar violin- ist Itzhak Perlman followed by pianist Andre Watts and oper-
22 THE LAKER CONNECTION