Oberlin Conservatory of Music

The Oberlin Conservatory of Music is a private music conservatory of Oberlin College, a private liberal arts college in Oberlin, Ohio. It was founded in 1865 and is the second oldest conservatory and oldest continually operating conservatory in the United States. It is one of the few American conservatories to be completely attached to a liberal arts college, allowing students the opportunity to pursue degrees in both music and a traditional liberal arts subject via a five-year double-degree program. Like the rest of Oberlin College, the student body of the conservatory is almost exclusively undergraduate. History The Oberlin Collegiate Institute was built on of land, founded in 1833 and became Oberlin College in 1850. In 1867, two years after the Oberlin Conservatory's founding in 1865, the previously separate Oberlin Conservatory became incorporated with the college on a similar grant. In tandem, the administration claimed that "Oberlin is peculiar in that which is good," notable as the first college and first conservatory in the United States to regularly admit African-American students. Oberlin College's role as an educator of African-American students prior to the Civil War and thereafter is historically significant. Notable is the graduation of William Grant Still, a student who widely became regarded as the "dean of African-American composers." These efforts have helped Oberlin remain committed to its values of freedom, social justice, and service.