Classical naming
SSU facility to bear moniker of 'Peanuts' pianist
The recital hall under construction at SSU's Green Music Center will be named after the Beethoven-loving Peanuts character Schroeder, below, created by Charles Schulz. The recital hall name was chosen by Jean Schulz, the artist's widow, who has donated $5 million to the music center.
MARK ARONOFF / The Press DemocratPublished: Tuesday, September 18, 2007 at 5:44 a.m.
Last Modified: Monday, September 17, 2007 at 9:00 p.m.
Schroeder, the Beethoven-loving Peanuts character usually seen hunched over a pint-sized toy piano, will be the namesake of the recital hall taking shape as part of Sonoma State University's new music center.
"If I just started from scratch to dream up the perfect image for this hall, I couldn't come up with something better than Schroeder," said Jeff Langley, the director of SSU's department of performing arts.
Langley described Schroeder as a nerdy kid doing uncool things, such as playing classical music. Still, he was revered by the other Peanuts characters.
The recital hall name was chosen by Jean Schulz, the widow of Peanuts creator Charles Schulz. She has donated $5 million to the music center, now under construction.
"Schroeder was a character very close to Sparky himself," said Ruben Armiñana, SSU's president, referring to the late cartoonist by his nickname.
"Sparky was a great lover of music," he said.
"And I think Schroeder is somebody who is committed to the arts and to Beethoven and I think it will serve as an inspiration, especially to young people, to follow your passion."
The Schulz donation and
$5 million in matching gifts were announced Monday. They bring the $100 million music center -- now under construction -- to within $12.5 million of being fully funded.
"It is coming closer," Armiñana said. "We still lack some money but it makes it more of a reality."
The recital hall joins the Snoopy library catalog and the Charlie Brown Cafe at the Schulz Information Center as university services with Peanuts links.
The music center will be named the Green Music Center, after telecommunications pioneer Don Green and his wife, Maureen, who started
the fund-raising effort with
$10 million.
The complex will include a 1,400-seat concert hall modeled after Seiji Ozawa Hall at the Tanglewood music complex in Lenox, Mass., with a rich wood interior and massive doors opening to a lawn seating area.
The concert hall will have a wing for a campus-run restaurant and a Santa Rosa Symphony's "founders room."
A separate building will have the 250-room recital hall to be named the Schroeder Recital Hall, which will be the venue for student performances. It will include a classroom wing.
Construction is expected to be largely completed next year, with an opening in 2009 or 2010, depending on how quickly the university can raise the final $12.5 million for flooring, a musicians room, equipment rooms and interior furnishings.
The music center is not being built without some controversy. SSU faculty members have complained that it drains energy and money from educational programs.
The complex also was a turning point in the relationship between Armiñana and the faculty, leading to a no-confidence vote that passed handily last spring.
But Langley said the complex already is drawing the interest of potential students and their parents, who are touring the campus and inquiring about opening dates.
"A building doesn't make a music department, but it can bring attention to what you are doing," said Langley, whose department has 140 music majors. "Never mind a state university, these kind of things just don't get built. It is the Taj Mahal of concert halls."
Jay Abbe, a former executive with OCLI and co-chairman of the SSU music center campaign, said the donation boosts their fund-raising efforts.
"Momentum is an important part of the equation and we are glad we have reached the point where we can talk about reaching this $10 million milestone," said Abbe, whose own donations are in excess of $250,000.
The money for the music center is the second donation made to SSU by Jean Schulz, an alumna. She and her husband gave a $5 million endowment to operate the Schulz Information Center, SSU's high-tech library.
So far, about 1,300 donors have contributed $52.8 million to the music center. The balance is being paid by the state and from anticipated revenue from the art center.
Bill White, chairman of Petaluma-based Basin Street Properties, has donated $500,000.
"This is truly a world-class facility," White said. "You don't get an opportunity every day to be a part of something like that."
CSU trustees meeting in Long Beach today are expected to ratify the recital hall naming.
You can reach Staff Writer Bob Norberg at 521-5206 or bob.norberg@pressdemocrat.
com.
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