USC Thornton School of Music

The University of Southern California Thornton School of Music was founded in 1884 and dedicated in 1999. Founded only four years after the University of Southern California itself, the Thornton School is the oldest continually operating arts institution in Southern California.[1] The School is located in the heart of the USC University Park Campus, south of downtown Los Angeles.

The school gets its name in honor of a $25 million gift by Flora L. Thornton in 1999. At the time, this was the largest donation to a school of music in the United States. In 2006, she donated an additional $5 million to support the facility needs of the school.[2]

USC Thornton offers Bachelor's, Master's, and Doctorate degrees in over 20 disciplines across the school's three divisions–Classical Performance and Composition, Contemporary Music, and Research and Scholarly Studies.[3] Many disciplines also offer graduate certificates.[4]

USC Thornton is noted for quality programs such as orchestral studies, opera, jazz, early music, composition, Film Scoring and Music Industry. Rolling Stone magazine named the music school as one of the top-five in the country.[5]

A diverse school of music, Thornton is one of the few highly regarded music schools in the United States to offer a degree program in early music. Students of baroque, renaissance and medieval music (vocal or instrumental) may enroll in a specialized degree program in early music.

At the 2007 Grammy Awards, four alumni (out of six nominated) and four faculty members received awards, in addition to one faculty member receiving a special honor.[5] At the 2009 Grammy Awards, faculty and alumni won six awards.[6]

In 2007, USC Thornton alumnus and Distinguished Professor of Composition Morten Lauridsen became the eighth classical composer to receive the National Medal of Arts.[7] Two years later, in 2009, alumnus and Judge Widney Professor of Music at USC Michael Tilson Thomas also received the National Medal of Arts.[8]

In 2009, USC Thornton was again a trailblazer in collegiate music when it became the first university to offer a major in popular music performance and songwriting alongside its already prestigious classical and jazz programs.

Thornton was one of the first universities to offer an undergraduate program in Music Industry,[9] a program still regarded as among the best in the country, and currently offers a Master of Science in Music Industry program.[10] Thornton offers the only comprehensive program in Scoring for Television and Film.[11] It also has a unique program in studio guitar performance.[12]

At the 2017 GRAMMY awards, Pentatonix, the a capella super-group that was founded by former Thornton Popular Music student Scott Hoying and features Thornton alumnus Ben Bram, won its third GRAMMY for Best Country Duo/Group Performance.[13]

In 2017[14] USC Thornton launched new professional master degree programs in Arts Leadership,[15] K-12 Contemporary Teaching Practice,[16] and Community Music.[17]

In 2018 USC Thornton announced a new model of classical music education[18] for undergraduate Classical Performance and Composition students.[19] Hallmarks of USC Thornton's redesigned curriculum includes restructured lessons, rehearsals, and classes to prepare students for a vibrant career in music.[20]

USC Thornton alumnus Billy Childs won a 2018 GRAMMY award.[21]

At the 2018 Emmy Awards, USC Thornton alumni Eli Brueggemann and Carlso Rafael Rivera earned awards.[22]

USC Thornton alumni had a fantastic showing at the 2019 GRAMMY awards. Ludwig Göransson and John Daversa both took home three awards, including Göransson's win for Song of the Year and Record of the Year, and Lansing McLoskey took home one an award.[23]

At the 2019 Academy Awards, Göransson followed up his GRAMMY in the Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media for the movie for Black Panther[23] by winning the Oscar for Best Original Score for the film.[24]


Notable faculty (past and present)
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