KEYBOARD STUDIES AT THE
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA

The University of South Carolina School of Music is located adjacent to the Koger Center for the Performing Arts at 813 Assembly Street in downtown Columbia, SC. Housed in a state-of-the-art music center, the School of Music is home to 48 full-time faculty and approximately 500 undergraduate and graduate students from 26 United States and 20 foreign countries. The Keyboard Area offers undergraduate degrees in Piano (with emphases in piano pedagogy and piano accompanying) and Organ Performance, and Master's and Doctoral degrees are offered in Piano Performance, Piano Pedagogy, and in Organ Performance.

Columbia, the state capital, is a mid-sized city of 500,000 and is within driving distance of Charlotte NC, Charleston SC, Atlanta GA, Savannah GA, and Myrtle Beach and Hilton Head Island SC, and the Brevard Music Center in NC. Columbia is home to the South Carolina Philharmonic Orchestra, the South Carolina Chamber Orchestra, the Columbia Choral Society, Columbia Lyric Opera, the Columbia City Ballet, the Columbia Classical Ballet, and the Palmetto Mastersingers as well as numerous theater and dance organizations. Regular concert series are held at the Columbia Museum of Art, Koger Center for the Performing Arts, School of Music, and at area churches and private organizations.

Recent appearances, clinics and master classes by artists include Ursula Oppens, Alicia de Larrocha, Kenneth Drake, Andre Watts, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Phillippe Entremont, Leon Bates, Ian Hobson, Leonard Pennario, Susan Starr, Charles Wadsworth, Marcus Roberts, Awadagin Pratt, Charles Wadsworth, Antonio Pompa-Baldi, Chu-Fang Huang, Claude Frank, Richard Ormrod, Enrique Graf, Nancy Weems, Jerome Lowenthal, Lee Luvisi, Alan Chow, Jan Drath, Jane Magrath, Dennis Alexander, as well as appearances by the Philadelphia Orchestra, St. Louis Symphony, Cleveland Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Philharmonia Hungarica, Bohemian Chamber Philharmonic, Vienna Chamber Orchestra, St. Petersburg State Symphony Orchestra, Pilobolus Dance Troup, Harlem Boys Choir, London City Opera, and the New York City Opera. Each year in late Spring, the internationally renowned Spoleto Festival is presented in Charleston, SC. The many activities and opportunities associated with this festival are easily accessible to residents of Columbia.

USC piano faculty perform regularly as soloists and chamber musicians and are nationally and internationally recognized teachers and clinicians. Faculty regularly contribute to keyboard journals, have been recipients of nationally competitive performance grants and have made numerous recordings.

Piano students have been prize winners and finalists in regional and national competitions, and many graduates are currently actively performing or teaching in higher academia. Performance opportunities abound in the greater Columbia area, and piano teaching opportunities are also available through the USC Preparatory Program and through private studios and academies throughout the city.

Directions from Major Interstates to the University of South Carolina:

From I-20 East: Follow I-20 to I-26/126. Take I-126 to Route 76 (Downtown Columbia Exit). Turn Right onto Assembly Street. Distance to the School of Music and the Koger Center for the Arts is approximately two miles.

From I-26 East: Follow I-26 to 126. Take I-126 to Route 76 (Downtown Columbia Exit). Turn Right onto Assembly Street. Distance to the School of Music and the Koger Center for the Arts is approximately two miles.

From I-77 South: Follow I-77 South to Route 277. Follow Route 277 through Columbia to the Downtown area. Turn Right onto Gervais Street. Continue for approximately four blocks and turn Left onto Assembly Street. Distance to the School of Music and the Koger Center for the Arts is approximately two blocks.

From I-20 West: Follow I-20 West to Route 277. Follow Route 277 through Columbia to the Downtown area. Turn Right onto Gervais Street. Continue for approximately four blocks and turn Left onto Assembly Street. Distance to the School of Music and the Koger Center for the Arts is approximately two blocks.

From Route 302: Follow Route 302 which becomes Route 21/176/321. Cross the Congaree River Bridge and turn Left onto Assembly Street. The School of Music and Koger Center for the Arts are on the Left.

From Route 378/76 West: Follow Route 76 (Garners Ferry Road). Follow Route 76 as it branches to the Right (Millwood Avenue). Turn Left onto Gervais Street. Turn Left onto Assembly Street. Distance to the School of Music and the Koger Center for the Arts is approximately two blocks.

From Columbia Metro Airport: Follow Route 21/176/321 into Columbia. Cross the Congaree River Bridge and turn Left onto Assembly Street. The School of Music and Koger Center for the Arts are on the Left.

Parking: Metered parking is available adjacent to the USC School of Music

Accommodations:

Holiday Inn Coliseum $$
630 Assembly Street
Columbia, SC
(803) 799-7800
(Downtown Columbia across from USC Coliseum/School of Music)

Best Western Riverside Inn $$
111 Knox Abbott Drive
Cayce, SC
(803) 939-4688
(2 miles from USC Coliseum)

Clarion Town House Hotel $$$
1615 Gervais Street
Columbia, SC
(803) 771-8711
(Downtown Columbia)

Fairground Plaza Hotel $$
621 South Assembly Street
Columbia, SC
(803) 252-2000
(I-77 Exit 5 or 6; next to McDonald's/Near Fairgrounds and USC Stadium)

Mariott Hotel $$$$
1200 Hampton Street
Columbia, SC
(803) 771-7000
(Downtown Columbia)

Best Western $$$$
1301 Main Street
Columbia, SC
(803) 779-7790
(Downtown Columbia)

Hampton Inn $$
822 Gervais Street
Columbia, SC
(803) 212-17950
(Near School of Music)

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KEYBOARD STUDIES AT THE UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA

KEYBOARD STUDIES AT THE
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA