CORRECTION: An earlier version of this article incorrectly identified Charanga Carolina as a Cuban dance ensemble. Charanga Carolina is a Cuban dance music ensemble. The story has been updated with the correct identification. The Daily Tar Heel apologizes for this error.
The UNC Department of Music is kicking off its 100-year anniversary in February with a pack of special guests: performers ranging from the Carolina Bluegrass Band, UNC Opera, UNC Jazz, the Marching Tar Heels and Charanga Carolina, the only university-based Cuban dance music ensemble in the country, will help ring in the occasion.
The Spectrum Concert, the music department's third annual scholarship benefit, will highlight several musical performances and presentations by UNC students and faculty.
“We tend to highlight a whole lot of different student group ensembles throughout the department,” department Chairperson and professor Allen Anderson said.
Anderson said the concert presents to the Chapel Hill community and prospective students a snapshot of the range of music programs and courses offered by the department. He said "Music and Politics" and "Beat Making Lab" are two of the most popular courses among music and non-music majors, illustrating the remarkable growth of the department over the past 100 years.
Since 1919, the department has grown from one full-time professor to a faculty of 70, developed over 20 keystone ensembles and expanded its curriculum to incorporate a diversity of music genre courses available to students, according to the UNC Department of Music website. In the 1930s, the department became the second university in the country to establish a PhD program in musicology.
Anderson said the department has had a great deal of growth and remains connected to the challenge of continuing to integrate various music genres and topics into its curriculum. He said it is also committed to eliminating barriers that may prevent non-music majors who are interested in music from enrolling in a class that interests them.
Catherine Zachary, the department’s communication coordinator, said diversity is the department’s overarching theme for the anniversary celebration.
Zachary said the department plans to use the events surrounding its 100-year anniversary as an opportunity to illustrate not only all it has to offer, but also where the department is going, starting with the spectrum concert.
