Welcome to the Alumni Connection Page
at the American Conservatory of Music!

We welcome our Alumni to this special area devoted to our Alumni! The Conservatory has certainly earned a splendid reputation through the remarkable achievements which you have forged subsequent to the high quality pedagogy that this Conservatory prepared for you. Now, we have created this gathering place for our devoted Alumni, to visit your Alma Mater, the American Conservatory of Music.

ACM would like to hear from you! Please let us know how you're doing and what's new in your life lately. Drop us a line by clicking here. You may also wish to help us by making a thoughtful donation to the Conservatory.

All donations gratefully received are eligible for tax relief pursuant to 26 USCA s. 501(c)(3), as the Conservatory is a Federally Recognized Non-Profit Religious Educational Institution. Consult your tax advisor for how much of a deduction you may be eligible for.
Notable recent graduates are among the following:

The soloist who appeared on the CBS television network under Leonard Bernstein and Alfredo Antonini; appeared as director and soloist at Carnegie Hall, Leipzig Gewandhaus and other distinguished performing arts centers; and former member of Krainis Consort and New York Pro Musica

The director of the world renowned Fisk Jubilee Singers

The immediate past director of the United States Navy Band

A world renowned Korean composer and department chair at a renowned South Korean University

The noted organist from Germany who is now head of the organ department at UCLA

A choral director who was a direct protege of Robert Shaw

The Tenor who sings regularly and currently with the Berlin Oper and the New York Metropolitan Opera

The immediate past president of the Association of Concert Bands

The retired president of the Royal Canadian College of Organists, the equivalent Canadian counterpart of the American Guild of Organists

The noted organ soloist who is now head of the organ department at Fisk University

News Release: Dr. Edith Borroff Receives the 2005 Pinnacle of Achievement Award for Music

Congratulations, Dr. Borroff!
For more information, read the press release here.

Eternal be their memory:

Dr. Mary Ellen Newsom, (1942-2016), DMA, Conducting.

Date of Death: November 14, 2016. Registrar, American Conservatory of Music (1996-2016); Faculty specialties: Music Education, Conducting, Suzuki Violin, Theory, Music Literature, and Composition. Member and Orchestra Manager, Downers Grove Choral Society; President, Early Childhood Music and Movement Association Illinois Chapter; President, Sokol Chicagoland; Officer, Central District - American Sokol Organization; and beloved music educator to countless students. In honor of her 20 years of service to the American Conservatory of Music and her history with this institution, the Conservatory is proud to announce the establishment of a memorial scholarship fund in her memory. Please make your donations to the fund by clicking on the button below:

Dr. Paul Jordan, (1939-2015), DMA, Organ and Conducting.

Date of death: March 1, 2015. Head of Organ and Theory Department, American Conservatory of Music (1998-2015); Faculty specialties: Conducting, Organ, Piano, Theory, Music Literature, and Composition. M.M. Yale University; Diplomate, Staatliche Hochschule f. Musik at Frankfort am Main. Additional studies at Harvard University and Columbia University. Appearances as soloist on CBS prime time television network under Leonard Bernstein and Alfredo Antonini. Many performances as director and soloist at Carnegie Hall, Leipzig Gewandhaus, and other distinguished performing arts centers. Former member of Krainis Consort and New York Pro Musica.

May our current students and faculty be continually inspired by Dr. Jordan's achievements. We thank him posthumously, as we did during his lifetime, for his great service to the art of music. May his memory be eternal.

Dr. Leo Edward Heim, DMA, Piano (Honorary), 1987; MM, Piano, 1935; BM, Piano, 1934.

Date of Death: January 1, 1992. Assistant Dean, (1956-1957); Dean, (1957-1971); President, American Conservatory of Music (1971-1981); Served with United States Army Air Force, (1942-1945), Decorated Bronze Star; Organist, First Church of Christ, Scientist, Wilmette, Illinois; Secretary and President, Cliff Dwellers Arts Foundation (1985-1992); Trustee, American Conservatory Music (served until his death); President Emeritus, American Conservatory of Music (1981-1992); Established a scholarship fund for the Conservatory (1980), later incorporated as The Margaret B. and Leo E. Heim Scholarship Fund; Savior, along with Dr. Richard Schulze and others, of the Conservatory (1990-1992); Member, Society of American Musicians; Member, Musicians Union, Local 10, Chicago, Illinois; Member, Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia; and Former examiner, member independent schools committee, National Association of Schools of Music (NASM).

Note: Dr. Heim's service to the Conservatory is important evidentiary proof that the American Conservatory of Music has been in continuous operation from its inception (June 16, 1886) to the present. Contrary to the falsehood published on Wikipedia, the Conservatory was not shuttered in May, 1991; nor, was any voting action taken by the official American Conservatory of Music Board of Trustees to "close the school". In fact, the American Conservatory of Music's Board of Trustees were quoted as saying that the effort to rescue the American Conservatory of Music was fully approved by them with their blessing, according to Chairman Frederic Wilbur Hickman. Thus, the American Conservatory of Music continued onward with all of its functions and mission under the control of a replacement Board of Trustees, in which Dr. Heim served as Trustee (until the time of his death, January 1, 1992), and with all the same facilities, equipment, personnel, staff, academic administration, identical accreditation, faculty, and students.

Dr. Marc Alan Peterka, DMA, Organ. Date of death: June 23, 2005. An accomplished organist and choirmaster, Dr. Peterka published his own arrangements of classical and religious music, together with some of his own compositions. At the time of his passing, he was organist and choir director at the Immaculate Heart of Mary Parish in Ramona, California.

Eun Mi Kwon, MM, Piano. Date of death: June 6, 2011. Ms. Kwon was an extraordinary artist, whose heartfelt and expert interpretations ministered to the depths of the human soul.

Gordon "G.R." Snow, MM, Voice. Date of Death: July 23, 2011. Beginning at an early age, Mr. Snow led a prolific life of music and touched many souls with an inspiring leadership and zeal for the art. He performed with the Dupage Opera Company, Da Corneto Opera Company, the Grant Park Symphony chorus, and appeared as soloist with the Chatham Choral Ensemble. He was also, for many years, the Director of Music at Hickory Hills Presbyterian Church, the Senior Artistic Director of the Northwest Indiana Youth Chorus, and the Artistic Director of the Greater Chicago Opera Guild.

Dr. Robert Mahaffey, DMA, Organ, Date of Death: February 6, 2011. Dr. Mahaffey served as Choir Director and Organist at St. Paul the Apostle Catholic Church in Lighthouse Point, Florida. For many years he was a national examiner for the American Guild of Organists. Known by all who were familiar with his immense contributions as a devoted church musician, Dr. Mahaffey imbued, in every member of his choruses, a true sense of reverence, purity and holiness in their service to God through liturgical musical worship and taught them to agree with those wise words of St. Augustine: "He who sings (for the Lord Jesus Christ) prays twice."
More shall be added to this page, to make it an even better place to visit! Please bear with us while we build a better Alumni Connection Page.