Denver University’s Lamont music students rehearsing for “Lamont Opera Scenes”.

The Lamont School of Music at Denver University was founded in 1924. According to the Director, Nancy Cochran, the school offers training to over 250 undergraduate and graduate students.

Kelsey Popvich, a junior at DU who, initially, was pursuing music as a hobby, is now on a concurrent degree plan concentrated in vocal performance and geography, with a minor in business.

“Even though it was not my initial passion, I was starting to get enough of a sense of achievement from it and things like that, that I decided to stick with the B.M.”, said Kelsey on her decision to continue pursuing a music degree.

Performance improvement and perfection is the main objective of the vast majority of music students at Lamont.

“If you really want a career in music, you’re busy all the time,” said John Jones, a junior at Lamont, who, along with his normal school schedule and required ensembles, is apart of two ensembles outside of Lamont.

The many practice rooms at the Lamont School of Music are filled with undergraduate and graduate students for the majority of the day.

Due to their busy schedules and many rehearsals, Lamont music students are often regarded as “removed” from the rest of the DU population.

“We don’t have a lot of time, and we’re always at Lamont. It’s just easier to hang out with each other, as appose to hanging out with someone at Daniel’s [College of Business], who I would never see”, said Kelsey Popvich.

The world's top academic countries place a high value on music education. Hungary, Netherlands and Japan have required music training at the elementary and middle school levels, both instrumental and vocal, for several decades. 1988 International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IAEEA) Test

Lamont focuses on performance, and there are many productions shown at the Newman Center throughout the year.

The Lamont Symphony Orchestra Conducting Workshop final performance.

“I was told three months ago, that if I wanted a fulfilling career playing the piano, I needed a degree in music performance”, said Diana Keegan, a 23 year-old jazz piano player, who is planning to transfer to the Lamont School of Music in the spring of 2013.

Students at Lamont receive training that will prepare them for all fields of the music industry.

The industry stretches wide, with several different positions waiting to be filled by the skilled and talented individuals at the Lamont School of Music.