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Kappa Gamma Psi

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Kappa Gamma Psi (ΚΓΨ) is a performing arts fraternity in the United States that was founded in 1913. Its last surviving collegiate chapter (Iota) went inactive in 2008, but the National Organization continues and is founding alumni chapters. Its membership was restricted to males, before it became coeducational in the 1970s.

Contents

Founding

Kappa Gamma Psi was founded on December 11, 1913 by twelve faculty members at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, Massachusetts.

Chapters

The fraternity o had chapters at 13 universities throughout the United States (the New England Conservatory, the University of Michigan, Ithaca College, the Boston Conservatory, the University of Utah, Pennsylvania State University, Boston University, the University of Alabama, Louisiana State University, Louisiana Tech University, the Chicago Musical College, the Cincinnati School of Music, and DePaul University). Iota Chapter, at Ithaca College in upstate New York (founded in 1929), the last active chapter, went inactive in 2008. Members of several former chapters remain in contact and gather periodically.

Composition contest and commissioned works

Kappa Gamma Psi Iota chapter (Ithaca College) used to sponsor a competition for new compositions. The widely performed band composition The Leaves Are Falling, by the American composer Warren Benson, was commissioned by Kappa Gamma Psi in 1963. Deux Preludes, a work for flute, clarinet, and bassoon by the Czech-born composer Karel Husa, was commissioned by the Iota chapter in 1966. Elie Siegmeister's Sextet for Brass and Percussion was commissioned in 1966. In 1974, the Iota chapter commissioned Alfred Reed's Double Wind Quintet.

Notable members

  • Halim El-Dabh, composer (born 1921)
  • Bert Remsen, actor (1925–1999)
  • Notable honorary members

  • Harold Bauer
  • Joseph Bonner
  • Pablo Casals
  • Philip Greeley Clapp
  • Ferdinand Dunkley
  • George Eastman
  • Duke Ellington
  • Ossip Gabrilowitsch
  • Philip Hale
  • Louis Hasselmans
  • Hans Kindler
  • Fritz Kreisler
  • Erich Leinsdorf
  • George Longy
  • Béla Böszörményi-Nagy
  • Ignace Paderewski
  • Attilio Poto
  • Leroy Robinson
  • Jesus Maria Sanroma
  • Nicholas Schwalt
  • Elie Siegmeister
  • Lawrence Tibbett
  • Roman Tottenburg
  • Bruno Walter
  • William L. Whitney

    References

    Kappa Gamma Psi Wikipedia