A refreshed and contemporary Duquesne University Alma Mater will be performed publicly at the Winter 2022 Commencement ceremony on Friday, December 16.

A refreshed and contemporary Duquesne University Alma Mater will be performed publicly at the Winter 2022 Commencement ceremony on Friday, December 16.

Earlier in December, at the Mary Pappert School of Music’s annual Christmas concert, attendees heard a sneak preview of the new Alma Mater, sung by senior voice performance major Rosemarie Spollen, with Dean David Allen Wehr accompanying on piano.

The refreshed Alma Mater was a vision of President Ken Gormley; he committed its composition to mark the 150th anniversary of the arrival of Spiritan priests in Pittsburgh.

As Dean Wehr noted in his introduction of the debut performance, “President Gormley had the vision to refresh the University's original Alma Mater for a new era, with beautiful words and music infused with echoes of the original, which was in part written by the Spiritan Rev. John F. Malloy in 1920.”

President Gormley asked that the music be created by one of Duquesne’s many talented composers at the Mary Pappert School of Music. Composition Area Coordinator Robert Traugh took up the challenge, President Gormley wrote the lyrics, and the two collaborated over several months with help and input from recent Duquesne alumni and friends.

Performed before a crowd of more than 600 people in the Power Center on December 4, the debut was enthusiastically received. Faculty, staff and students are encouraged to attend Duquesne’s Winter Commencement ceremony on Friday, December 16, at 11 a.m. to honor the graduates and to hear the new, refreshed Duquesne University Alma Mater, performed to mark this special 150th anniversary year.

News Information

News Type

DU Times

Departments, Centers, and Offices

Published

December 14, 2022