MCIH Concept Rendering North Elevation Dusk. Copyright Epstein Joslin Architects
Littleton, MA – Susan Randazzo, Executive Director of Indian Hill Music (IHM), today announced that plans for a new music education and performance center in the Town of Groton have been submitted to the Planning Board and shared with the public at an open meeting. Groton will be the new home of Central Massachusetts’s 31-year-old thriving regional center for music education and performance, which will be located at 122 Old Ayer Road.
Indian Hill Music has grown over the last three decades to serve 79 communities ranging from Boston in the east, Metrowest, the Nashoba Valley, Merrimack Valley, and as far north as Nashua and Hollis, New Hampshire. IHM is one of only a small group of non-profit organizations nationwide that encompass a music school, professional orchestra, professional concert series and community outreach programs.
“This is an exciting time in the history of Indian Hill Music,” stated Ms. Randazzo, a founding member of IHM. “Adding to the specialness of the new location is that we will not only be returning to our first home, Groton, where both our school and the Orchestra of Indian Hill began, but the building will look upon Indian Hill, the beautiful landmark after which IHM was named.”
“We are pleased to have
Gary Shepherd, Project Manager for Indian Hill Music, and
Alan Joslin,
Deborah Epstein, and
Ray Porfilio of Cambridge-based Epstein Joslin Architects leading an innovative team that includes Chicago-based pioneering acousticians
R. Lawrence (Larry) Kirkegaard of LKAcoustics Design Studio, and
Carl P. Giegold of Threshold Acoustics; Theatre Consultant
Robert Long of Theatre Consultants Collaborative in Chapel Hill, NC; Civil Engineers
Lawrence (Larry) M. Beals and
Todd Morey of Beals Associates, Inc. in Boston, and Landscape Architect
Stephen Stimson of Stephen Stimson Associates in Cambridge. We could not ask for a better team.”
IHM’s new home will join a distinguished roster of national projects by some of the above named professionals, including Seiji Ozawa Hall for the Boston Symphony Orchestra at Tanglewood, Rockport’s Shalin Liu Performance Center, Williams College Theater and Dance Center in Williamstown, the Green Music Center at Sonoma State University in California, the Summer Performance Pavilions for Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts and Carnegie Hall’s Isaac Stern Auditorium in New York, San Francisco’s Davies Symphony Hall, and Bethesda’s Strathmore Center.
Indian Hill Music has grown and prospered for the past 31 years in its present home in Littleton, MA next door to Groton. The designed new home will enable planned growth and further program excellence for years to come in an ideal setting overlooking its birthplace.
Lisa Fiorentino, IHM Chief Operating Officer, commented, “Indian Hill Music’s new home will include custom-built, state-of-the-art teaching studios and classrooms – 50% more than the current IHM facility offers, rehearsal spaces and two performance halls, comfortable community space for parents and students to gather between lessons and classes and before concerts, as well as administrative offices and on-site parking.”
Also joining Ms. Randazzo and Ms. Fiorentino in making the announcement were
Carole Prest, Indian Hill Music Board Chair, and
Bruce Hangen, Artistic Director and Conductor of the Orchestra of Indian Hill.
“As both an Indian Hill Music student and Board Member, I couldn’t be more excited. We are thrilled to have such an all-star team designing our new home,” said Ms. Prest. “The new building will allow for IHM’s continued growth.”
Mr. Hangen added, “I am incredibly excited to have a new artistic home for the Orchestra of Indian Hill that will serve our performance and educational needs for the next half-century and beyond. The design team is truly sensitive to the high quality and varied activity that Indian Hill Music represents, and I am happy and confident that a new cultural oasis is being created for the arts in our region.”
While the project is still in the approval phase, Groton Town Manager Mark Haddad has publicly given positive support for the move. In an article by the Lowell Sun dated April 2, 2016, that focused on IHM’s purchase of the Groton property, he was quoted as stating, “We’re very excited that an organization as well-run and well-organized as Indian Hill Music would make Groton their home base. It’s a positive step for making Groton a destination location.”
Ms. Fiorentino commented on the future move, saying, “We look forward to this new phase of the organization’s future, with a new, breathtaking state-of the-art building designedby today’s foremost award-winning architects and acousticians specifically to allow IHM to more fully pursue its mission.”
Indian Hill Music’s new home is expected to be completed and ready to open in 2020.
Indian Hill Music
Founded in 1985 to fulfill a need for quality music education, high caliber performances, and collaborative community partnerships for all ages, Indian Hill Music (IHM) is a thriving non-profit regional center for music education and performance located in picturesque Central Massachusetts and serving 79 communities. IHM’s activities are motivated by the belief that music inspires both our hearts and our minds, encourages the growth and development of the “whole person,” and is integral to the lives of the individuals and communities we serve. At the core of IHM’s mission is a comprehensive and synergistic music education program, where studying music, attending performances and lectures, participating in workshops, and performing with others are key components. Through the integration of the music school and the professional performance series, and a commitment to giving music to the community, the transformative power of music is fully realized.
The music school offers lessons in 30+ instruments and voice for individuals of all ages, abilities, and musical interests, taught by a distinguished and experienced faculty of over 60 teaching artists with degrees from the world’s foremost conservatories. Private and group instruction in classical, contemporary, jazz, rock, pop, folk, Irish, Broadway, opera, and early music are offered. Performing ensembles include the Indian Hill Music Youth Orchestra and the New England Flute Orchestra of Indian Hill, which provide students with high-quality training and opportunities to collaborate and share music in the community. IHM also features an extensive array of workshops and lectures, Alexander Technique, masterclasses with guest artists, recitals in our beautiful hall, a variety of summer music programs, an annual Performathon, and honors piano and concerto competitions.
IHM’s professional performance season is anchored by concerts of the 70-member Orchestra of Indian Hill, the region’s premier professional symphony orchestra, led by Artistic Director and Conductor, Bruce Hangen. Indian Hill Music also presents live performances by music school faculty, Orchestra of Indian Hill musicians, and other acclaimed guest artists in the Faculty Showcase Recital Series, the Besas Memorial Concert Series, and the Kalliroscope Gallery Chamber Music Series.
Dedicated to enriching the communities it serves, Indian Hill Music has developed strong and flourishing relationships through a full complement of outreach programming, serving some 7,000 people annually. IHM provides $65,000 in scholarships annually to students on a need-basis, and $100,000 in outreach. In addition to its school music partnerships in the Ayer-Shirley Public Schools, Indian Hill Music presents the popular free Bach’s Lunch Concerts, a monthly series that regularly attracts hundreds of local seniors. IHM also offers a complimentary service providing compassion and comfort through the ancient tradition of singing at the bedsides of people who are ill or at the end of life via the Threshold Singers of Indian Hill Music.
