Tour Detail

Nationally ranked and internationally renowned, the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music (CCM) is a preeminent institution for the performing and media arts. CCM's faculty, staff, and state-of-the-art facilities make possible the professional training and exceptional education the school provides. The school's roster of eminent faculty regularly receive distinguished honors for creative and scholarly work, and its alumni have achieved notable success in the performing and media arts. More than 150 internationally recognized faculty members work with students from around the world.

The synergy created by housing CCM within a comprehensive public university gives the college its unique character and defines its objective: to educate and inspire the whole artist and scholar for positions on the world's stage.

Among the performance spaces are the 730-seat Corbett Auditorium, the 380-seat Patricia Corbett Theater, the versatile Cohen Family Studio Theater, the 250-seat Robert J. Werner Recital Hall and the 140-seat Watson Recital Hall.

In 1867 Clara Baur founded the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music in Mrs. Nourse's School for Young Ladies. Baur intended to offer a place to teach young ladies violin and voice.

The College of Music of Cincinnati was founded in 1878 and offered similar services to the Conservatory. One key difference was the faculty. Theodore Thomas was one of the most famous conductors of his time and a huge name in music. He brought himself, as well as some of his most esteemed colleges, to Cincinnati to teach at the College of Music. This was disastrous for Baur and nearly led her to bankruptcy, and it wasn't until she herself traveled around Europe and recruited esteemed faculty to come teach at her school that she saw attendance rise again.

The two institutions continued to thrive independent of each other up until the 1940s. As radio and television continued to grow and evolve, it became obvious that a merger between the two schools would benefit everyone involved. In August 1955 the two institutions merged to become the Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music, and in 1962 it became the 14th college at the University of Cincinnati.