American Conservatory of Music

Former conservatory presidents

1886–1931: John James Hattstaedt (1851–1931)

1935–1971: John Robert Hattstaedt (1887–1978), John James Hattstaedt's son, a Princeton graduate, served as president.

1971–1981: Leo Edward Heim (1913–1992) was instrumental in the attempt to save the Conservatory after it had filed for bankruptcy under Chapter 7 in 1991. In 1981, the Conservatory named him President Emeritus.

1980–1987: Charles Ethelbert Moore (1930–1995), a classical pianist, was president when the Conservatory filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy in January 1987. Moore had joined the faculty in 1961 and became Dean in 1972.

1987–1989: Vernon R. Nelson (born 1945), a graduate of the University of Chicago's Graduate School of Business, temporarily saved the Conservatory, extending its life until 1991.

1989–1990: Steven J. Nelson (no relation to Vernon)

1990–1991: Vernon R. Nelson

Former general directors

1900-1903: Frederick Grant Gleason

Former deans of faculty

circa 1942: Heniot Levy

post-WWII to the late 1960s: Irwin Fischer

circa mid-1980s: E. Harvey Jewell, DMA

late 1980s: Carl L. Waldschmidt, PhD

Former department deans

circa Adolf Weidig, Associate Director and Dean of the Department of Theory

Former faculty, guest teachers and associates

For over a century, many prominent artists such as Sergei Rachmaninoff's colleague Josef Lhévinne and later his student Adele Marcus taught master classes in piano and other instruments at the American Conservatory.

From the post-WWII years to the late 1960s, Irwin Fischer, composer, pianist, and conductor, served as Dean of Faculty and conductor of the American Conservatory Orchestra. Violinist Scott Willits coached many members of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra from 1940 to 1974. Pianist Wilhelmina Pouget, student of Walter Gieseking, specialized in late Romantic piano technique in the 1970s. Acclaimed pianist William Browning, heir of the Brahms-Schumann piano dynasty and one of the legendary pianists and teachers of the 20th century, was on faculty from 1957 to 1989.

Former locations

 ????–1975: 410 S. Michigan Avenue, Chicago, Fine Arts Building

1975–1987: 116 S. Michigan Avenue, Chicago

1987–1991: 17 N. State Street, Chicago, Stevens Building

1975 acquisition & 1983 sale of building

In 1975, using funds from its endowment, the Conservatory acquired and renovated a 17-story, 105,400-square-foot "turn-of-the-century" office building at 116 S. Michigan for about $1.2 million and moved from the Fine Arts Building at 410 S. Michigan Avenue. The Conservatory's strategy was to occupy part of the building and earn enough rent income to cover some losses. But that plan failed, and in 1983, the Conservatory sold the building to developer Horwitz Matthews, Inc. — Tem H. Horwitz (born 1944) and E. Curtis Matthews Jr. (born 1943) — who launched their own $4.5 million renovation. That year, they gave the Conservatory, which had been occupying 25,000 square feet on 4-1/2 floors, two years to find new quarters for its 125 faculty members and 250 full-time and 800 part-time students.

1987 Chapter 11 Bankruptcy

In January of 1987, the Conservatory filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy protection; and shortly thereafter, Charles Moore, its president, resigned. Henry Regnery – an industrialist, publisher of conservative books, benefactor, and amateur cellist – asked Vernon Nelson to step in as acting President. Nelson – an engineer with an MBA from the University of Chicago – had, since 1986, been leading a group from the University of Chicago to design a business plan for the Conservatory. Nelson agreed to serve as President for a short time on a pro-bono basis. Many of the directors resigned shortly after the Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing.

Directors who stayed on during Chapter 11 reorganization

Henry Regnery (1912–1996) remained as Chairman

Fred Hickman, (born 1927) an attorney and former U.S. Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Tax Policy from 1971 to 1975 under Presidents Nixon and Ford

Leo Edward Heim (1913–1992), a career Conservatory faculty member and former President

Bernard James McKenna (1933–2010), the CEO of Sanwa Business Credit Corp, chaired in 1987 the Conservatory's new building committee; he served as a Conservatory director from 1985 to 1992

Robert (Bob) Getz, a musician and alumnus

New directors who joined to help reorganization

Walter D. Fackler (1921–1993) a professor of economics, former acting dean, and Director of the Executive MBA program of the University of Chicago's Graduate School of Business and former senior economist for U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower's Cabinet Committee from 1959 to 1960

Henry Fogel, then the President of The Chicago Symphony Orchestra and as of June 2009, Dean of the Chicago College of Performing Arts

Vernon R. Nelson

J. Thomas Freidheim (born 1945), a Chicago insurance company executive

Hickman's firm, Hopkins & Sutter, handled the bankruptcy, pro-bono.

Other directors

Ruth Anderson (née Teninga; born 1918), philanthropist from Hinsdale, Illinois, wife of Roger Allen Anderson (1919–2005)

Paul J. Henry (born 1953), Conservatory faculty member – classical guitar

Fumio Ralph Fujimoto (born 1923), partner (now retired), Ernst & Young

Norman A. Ross (1922–2008), second generation journalist & broadcaster, and son of Olympic swimmer Norman Ross

Efforts to reorganize

In 1987, Regnery led with a $1 million gift to the Conservatory. Other foundations followed. This provided operating capital to run the Conservatory during the restructuring. Under the Deanship of E. Harvey Jewell, DMA (born 1942), the Conservatory strengthened its programs, raised entrance requirements, recruited prominent faculty, passed a rigorous accreditation review in 1988 by the National Association of Schools of Music, and cleared a probationary status placed earlier by the Illinois State Board of Education on the Bachelor of Music Education program. After eighteen months, the Conservatory had developed a survival plan and raised enough money to provide a balanced budget for three years. If the milestones were met, the Conservatory would be able to function independently going forward. When Nelson expressed to the Board his desire to leave his pro-bono post, the Board accepted it and launched a nationwide search for a new President and a Dean. The Board hired Steven J. Nelson, as President and Carl L. Waldschmidt, PhD (1917–1995), the former dean, longtime music professor, and choral director from Concordia University in Chicago (retired 1987), as Dean. Steve Nelson had studied violin at Cleveland Institute of Music and had served as President of the Center for Creative Studies – Institute of Music and Dance in Detroit. After leaving the American Conservatory of Music, Steve Nelson served as Vice President College of Relations at Landmark College in Putney, Vermont. In 1998, he became head master at the Calhoun School in New York City. Vern Nelson remained on the Board.

1991 Chapter 7 bankruptcy

By late 1990 it was clear to the Board of Directors that the milestones of the survival plan would not be met. In January 1991, the Board reappointed Vern Nelson as President, pro-bono. Grants totaling $2 million had been depleted by faculty salaries, student scholarships, and recruitment and development programs. Enrollment had fallen to 90 — down from 2,000 full-time in 1977. The Board determined that, in order to survive, the Conservatory would have to be merged with another entity. Discussions were held with the Northwestern University School of Music, which had an interest in developing a Downtown presence to house the performance department with better access to members of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the Lyric Opera. Discussions were also held with Roosevelt University to merge the Conservatory with its Chicago Musical College. The Board felt that prospects were viable, but a merger of any sort was resisted by members of Conservatory faculty. Then, when faced with financial failure from, among other things, no viable operating funds or other prospects for survival, the Board closed the school in 1991 and filed for protection under Chapter 7 bankruptcy. The main secured creditor was the landlord, Morris Kalish, who owned the Stevens Building at 17 N State Street, a 19-story building erected in 1913 which had housed the Chas A. Stevens Department Store. At the invitation of Kalish, the Conservatory had taken up residence on the top two floors in 1987.

Efforts to resurrect the bankrupt Conservatory

See American Conservatory of Music (Hammond, Indiana & Belize)