Donations of Note for Chapman’s School of Music

A daughter of the founder of Knott’s Berry Farm has given Chapman University $3 million for construction of a 43,000-square-foot music building and the renovation of the existing facility.

The gift from Toni Oliphant is the largest the School of Music has received. “I’m so excited about it, it’s hard to talk about it,” said William Hall, dean of the music school. “This is one of these major gifts that literally change an institution.”

In addition, Richard and Hyla Bertea have donated $1 million to establish the Bertea Family Endowed Chair, whose first recipient is Hall. The Berteas donated more than $1 million toward the original music building, Hall said.

Richard Bertea is a Chapman trustee.

Oliphant said she provided the gift because “I think they need it. That school is doing a terrific job with young people.”

Construction of Oliphant Symphony Hall is planned to begin in June if an additional $4 million can be raised. The three-story building will include teaching studios, practice rooms, a dance studio in the basement and a symphony hall. When the project is completed, there will be 30 practice rooms, up from the existing seven.

With the additional space, the university will be able to establish its first four master’s degree programs in music, Hall said. They will be in performance, conducting, music therapy and, perhaps, art management, in association with the business and law schools.

The building is needed because of the increase in music majors, Hall said. When Bertea Hall opened in 1975 there were 68; now there are 190.

“It’s been a fabulous building for us, but we’ve outgrown it,” Hall said.

Professors have been forced to teach in homes, churches and even outdoors, Hall said, and their offices have been used as studios.

The expected construction of the new building is the catalyst for several other moves. The popular 125-member William Hall Master Chorale, which Hall founded, already has moved from Costa Mesa to the Orange campus.

The master chorale’s move was part of the establishment this summer of the Center for Choral/Vocal Studies, which is expected to grow when it’s in the new building.

In addition, two collections of music, totaling 10,000 pieces of choral and choral-orchestral works, will be merged at Oliphant, forming the largest library of such music in the Western United States, Hall said.

Oliphant is the daughter of Walter Knott and a friend of Hall’s. Her sister, Marion Knott Montapert, is a member of Chapman’s Board of Trustees.