The University of Florida (UF) College of the Arts has appointed Kevin Orr, D.M.A., as interim director of the UF School of Music. A professor of piano at the UF School of Music since 2000, Orr will serve a two-year appointment beginning July 1, 2015.
“Dr. Orr is a highly-regarded artist with administrative experience,” said Lucinda Lavelli, dean of the College of the Arts. “I look forward to having him join our College of the Arts administrative team and the leadership he will bring to our outstanding School of Music.”
The UF School of Music has 35 full-time and six adjunct faculty and serves 160 graduate and 200 undergraduate music majors. Degree programs include a B.A., B.M., M.M., and the Ph.D. in music education, composition, ethnomusicology and historical musicology. Program emphases include performance, music education, theory, composition, music history and literature, ethnomusicology, conducting and sacred music.
“Coming to the position from the faculty, I am hopeful to have an immediate positive impact in facilitating the efforts of the extraordinary students and professors of the University of Florida School of Music," said Orr. "I am honored to serve the School in this new role."
Orr is a concert pianist who fulfills a broad agenda as performer, masterclass clinician, lecturer and adjudicator that has taken him to major music institutions across the North America, Europe, China, South Korea and Australia. A University of Florida Research Foundation Professor, Orr's live performances and CD recordings have earned critical acclaim across the globe. Orr is founding director of the University of Florida International Piano Festival, an annual summer event held at the UF School of Music assembling gifted young pianists with distinguished pedagogues from around the world. While focusing primarily upon the performance and teaching of classical music, Orr is also interested in improvisational musical styles.
Orr studied at the Cleveland Institute of Music at Case Western Reserve University and at the Dana School of Music at Youngstown State University. He was the recipient of the William Kurzban Prize in Piano from the Cleveland Institute of Music, and the Aurora Ragiani Martin Piano Award from the Dana School of Music. His teachers have included Paul Schenly, Robert Elliot Hopkins, Caroline Oltmanns, Melva Huebert and Doris Arnold-Cunningham. With graduate degrees in performance, Orr also holds an undergraduate degree in Music Education. A Steinway artist, Orr records for Meyer Media, LLC. His recordings are available at kevinrobertorr.com.
Orr succeeds Dr. John Duff who is stepping down as director after serving in that position for 13 years to rejoin the faculty.
