Oklahoma Gets its Own Academy of Contemporary Music

Updated:

February 5, 2013 1:37 am

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From the press release:

Trailblazing music school, The Academy of Contemporary Music, will celebrate the opening of its first U.S. campus at the University of Central Oklahoma with a public reception on August 12, 2009 which will feature live music and a first look at the new facilities. The school, known as the ACM@UCO, will provide unique educational opportunities and targeted, innovative classes for U.S. students who aspire to a career in the music industry.

In anticipation of the opening, ACM@UCO has also announced the hiring of Dr. Peter Pollack as the Director of Academic Operations. A veteran rock musician, Pollack has provided drums for the Las Vegas productionof Blue Man Group since 2000 and has previously recorded with numerous artists and producers including Steve Albini and Cheetah Chrome of the Dead Boys. He holds a Doctorate of Musical Arts from the University of Illinois.

Connecting students directly to today’s music industry, ACM@UCO’s staff of teachers will include acclaimed performing artists and award-winning music professionals and will provide a new pool oftalent for the U.S. music industry. Confirmed to offer master classes during the Academy’s first year are Lilly Allen producer and member of The Bird and the Bee, Greg Kurstin, and Warner Bros. Records General Manager and EVP of Warner Bros. Promotions Tom Biery, as well as Oklahomans The Flaming Lips, with additional classes and teachers tobe announced later.

Classes will be held at the Oklahoma Warehouse Building off Flaming Lips Alley in Oklahoma City’s historic Bricktown district. As the state’s oldest university, UCO leads the way for innovative higher learning, offering undergraduate and graduate degrees from it’s main campus in Edmond, OK.