History of Mu Phi Epsilon
Our Founders
Mu Phi Epsilon was founded by Winthrop Smith Sterling (1859-1943), Dean of the Metropolitan College of Music in Cincinnati, Ohio and Elizabeth Mathias (1884-1950), his nineteen-year-old assistant. On November 13, 1903 thirteen young women came together to form the Alpha Chapter of what has now become Mu Phi Epsilon International Music Fraternity. In the 1920’s Dr. Sterling left Metropolitan College to become head of the organ department at Miami University in Coral Gables, Florida. In 1908 Elizabeth Mathias married Dr. John Fuqua in Greeley, Colorado. She remained active in music and music therapy. After her husband’s death Elizabeth became Superintendent of Dr. Fuqua’s hospital, Island Grove Hospital in Island Grove Park, Greeley, Colorado.
Purpose and Membership
Mu Phi Epsilon is a nonprofit corporation. The International Bylaws of Mu Phi Epsilon state that its aim is
“the advancement of music in the community, in the nation, and in the world, through the promotion of musicianship, scholarship, and music education, with an emphasis on service through music.”
Membership is limited to music majors and minors, music faculty not already initiated as members in another professional music fraternity, and musicians of achievement who have never joined a professional music fraternity and who desire membership through Special Election.
Chapters
Collegiate chapters continued taking their names from the original Alpha Chapter, progressing through the Greek alphabet and then used the prefixes Mu, Phi, Epsilon, Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta. Presently the prefix Zeta is used for new chapters. International chapters have been Alpha Tau (Philippine Women’s University 1962), Beta Xi (University of the Philippines 1967) and Delta Iota (University of Western Ontario, Canada 1990).
Since 1903 there have been 210 chapters of Mu Phi Epsilon installed on college campuses. After graduation or leaving school the collegiate members are encouraged to affiliate with a nearby alumni chapter or with the International Fraternity as an Allied Member. As of this writing there are 80 active (142 chartered) collegiate chapters and 56 active (73 chartered) alumni chapters as well as Allied Members living throughout the world.
Geographical Structure
Currently the collegiate and alumni chapters are divided into twelve (12) Provinces and thirty-three (33) Districts within those Provinces. Each District has a District Director and these Directors are managed by the Second Vice President, Collegiate Advisor.
Conventions
The International Bylaws specify the International Convention as the legislative and executive authority of the Fraternity. The International Executive Board (IEB) has this authority during non-convention times. Annual conventions were held from 1904 until 1922, when biennial conventions were adopted. Since 1974 triennial conventions have taken place. An exception of two years was made between 2001 and 2003 in order to allow a Centennial Convention in the appropriate year of 2003. The most recent convention was held in Jacksonville Florida in 2008. The 2011 convention is already in its planning stages.
Conventions rotate among the Provinces. The 2003 Centennial Convention was held in Cincinnati and hosted by the East Central and North Central Provinces. The 2008 Convention was hosted by the Atlantic and Southeast Provinces in Jacksonville, Florida. The International Executive Board, all incoming and continuing District Directors, Committee Chairmen, Business Delegates, Music Delegates, Members and Guests are the participants. Each active Collegiate and Alumni Chapter sends one Business Delegate and the Membership Committee Chairman is the Business Delegate representing all Allied Members.
Milestone Conventions
The Silver Anniversary Convention was the last one attended by Dr. Winthrop Sterling. It was held at Troutdale-in-the-Pines, Colorado. Salt Lake City was the site of the Golden Anniversary Convention (1953, observed in 1954). The newly formed Memorial Foundation was officially recognized in Lincoln, Nebraska at the convention commemorating the 60th anniversary. This 1963 convention was also the first to have international delegates.
A major change occurred in the 1970s with the passage of Title IX of the 1972 Education Amendment Act. This stated that “…there shall be no discrimination as to race, creed, color or sex in election to membership in fraternities/sororities.” In effect Title IX ended the ability of a professional organization to restrict its membership eligibility to a single sex. Therefore the Diamond Jubilee Convention in Kansas City was momentous in that the Fraternity voted to open its membership to men. In seventy-five years Mu Phi Epsilon changed from a Music Sorority, to an Honorary Music Sorority, then a Professional Music Sorority and finally to a Coeducational Music Fraternity.
2003 Centennial Convention
The 52nd National and 16th International Convention was held in Cincinnati, the founding city. This Centennial Convention was indeed A Sterling Celebration. Dawn Phelps Neal, Phi Nu/Los Angeles, was General Chairman of the Centennial Convention and Marva Nungester Rasmussen, Gamma Alpha/Cincinnati , served as local Chairman assisted by Willena Bourquein Schlueter, Mu Omicron/Cincinnati.
Displays depicting each ten years of history were placed in a room available for viewing during the entire Convention. The following people made this possible: Willena Schlueter, Marilyn Soriano, Mu Omicron, Cincinnati; Katherine Guldberg Doepke, Phi Beta/Minneapolis-St. Paul; Doris Holt Braun,Alpha Kappa/Kansas City; Louise Martel Huddleston, Epsilon Zeta/Washington D.C.; Ruth Diffenbacher Scheer, Phi Pi/Wichita; Ann Gibbens Davis,Phi Lambda/Washington D.C.; Marian Bowker Davidson, Mu Beta/Los Angeles; Kurt-Alexander Zeller, Mu Chi/Delta Psi; and Myrta Borges Knox, Epsilon Xi/Rochester.
Business sessions were interspersed with professional music presentations, gala receptions and luncheons. Some musical performances were at the Classical Music Hall of Fame. Among the memorable events:
A lecture and recital featuring music by composer Zenobia Powell Perry, Gamma Eta/Dayton celebrating her 95th year and her contributions to American music.
Winthrop Sterling’s Cincinnati featuring research and a video project by Marva Rasmussen and her husband Gary.
Compositions by Patron Leslie Bassett, Ann Arbor, husband of Anita Denniston Bassett, Gamma/Ann Arbor.
A Fantastick Evening! presentation by composer Harvey Schmidt. Together with Tom Jones, Harvey Schmidt wrote many award winning musicals including 110 In the Shade, I DO! I DO!, and the longest-running production in the history of American theatre: The Fantasticks.
Two commissioned works were premiered at the Centennial Centerpiece Concert. The first was A Celebration Octet, by Nancy Bloomer Deussen, Mu Nu/Palo Alto, a prominent composer living in the San Francisco Bay Area. She has received numerous awards, including first prize in the Mu Phi Epsilon Original Composition Contests in 1985, 1999 and 2005. A Celebration Octet was performed by Mu Phi Epsilon members:
Deborah Ash, Gamma Omicron/Ann Arbor – flute
Martha MacDonald, Phi Xi/Austin – clarinet
Susan Bissiri, Lambda/Ann Arbor – oboe
Patricia Fagan, Mu Eta – bassoon
Melissa Phelps Beckstead, Phi Nu – violin
Kacey Link, Xi – viola
Shelley Phelps Johnson, Mu Nu/Beach Cities South – cello
Bobbette Cameron, Beta Alpha/Beach Cities South – bass
Without a doubt the highlight performance was Symphony No. 7, A Triumphal Trilogy, op. 98 by Dr. Crawford Gates. This work was commissioned by the Mu Phi Epsilon Foundation for the centennial. It is a three movement work for soprano, chorus and orchestra. Crawford Gates has composed more than 700 works and has received 20 awards from the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP). The second movement had as its basis Mu Phi Epsilon’s official song Our Triangle, written by Caliste Conant Walker, Iota Alpha in 1912 and revised in 1995 by Barbara Baker Harris Polome, Mu Chi/Austin. The spectacular soprano soloist in A Triumphal Trilogy was Jeanine Wagner, Epsilon Kappa.
Special Awards at Convention 2003
In addition to the awards given annually by Mu Phi Epsilon to its chapters and members, special awards are presented only in convention years.
Award of Merit – is the highest award given to outstanding members of Mu Phi Epsilon who bring honor to the Fraternity in their field of music.
Awarded to Frances Steiner, Beta/Palos Verdes Peninsula. Dr. Steiner is one of the premier women conductors in the world and presently is Professor of Music at California State University, Dominguez Hills.
Previous recipients of the Award of Merit were:
Jean Madeira
Amy Worth
Lucrecia Kasilag
Claudette Sorel
Dorothy DeLay
Joanne J. Baker
Emma Lou Diemer
Joyce G. Jones
Citation of Merit – is awarded to outstanding individuals in the world of music not members of Mu Phi Epsilon, who have contributed in an exceptional way to the goals of the Fraternity.
Awarded to Harvey Schmidt, composer of many award winning musicals including The Fantasticks, the longest running musical in the history of American theatre.
Previous recipients of the Citation of Merit were:
Herman Newman Robert Shaw
Standard School of Broadcast Arthur Rubenstein
Olga Koussevitzky Seiji Ozawa
Herman B. Wells Jack Benny
Howard Hanson Oliver Daniel
Archie N. Jones Arthur Fiedler
Leopold Stokowski Paul Fromm
Leonard Bernstein William Grant Still
Rudolph Ganz Richard Gaddes
The Ford Foundation Jascha Heifetz
Harold Schonberg PBS
Jacob Avshalomov Jester Hairston
E. Thayer Gaston Itzhak Perlman
Earl Vincent Moore Texaco, Inc.
Paul Van Katwijk Sarah Caldwell
AT&T (Bell Telephone Hour) Van Cliburn
Claudette Sorel Aaron Copland
Pablo Casals William Schuman
Eugene Ormandy Ezra Laderman
Guiomar Novaes Ardis Krainik
Marjorie Merriweather Post William Warfield
Nadia Boulanger Maurice Abravanel
Pierre Boulez Victor Borge
Beverly Sills
Pinchas Zukerman
Robert Sherman
Ellis Marsalis
Dame Kiri Te Kanawa
John Frohnmayer
Henry Janiec
Lloyd Pfautsch
Bill Cormack
Elizabeth Mathias Award – is an award named in honor of the co-founder of Mu Phi Epsilon, and given to members of the Fraternity in recognition of outstanding and unique achievement in the field of music and music service.
Awarded to Zenobia Powell Perry, Gamma Eta/Dayton. A child of Black and Creek Indian parents, at an early age she studied with Nathaniel Dett and was sponsored in her graduate studies by Eleanor Roosevelt. She was a prolific composer who passed away shortly after the 2003 Convention.
Previous recipients of the Elizabeth Mathias Award were:
Mary DeGarmo
Barbara Kolb
Grace Spofford
Frances Andrews
Helen Hewitt
Anna Husband
Mildred Boggess Andrews
Dorothy James
Merle Montgomery
Shirley Verrett
Beth Miller Harrod
Marilyn Horne
Anita Louise Steele
Frances Bartlett
Blythe Owen
Mary Prudie Brown
Vivian Menees Nelson
Irene Dalis
Diane Bish
Frances Steiner
Ruth Duncan McDonald
Sylvia Meyer Gasch
Ann Gibbens Davis
Bettye Krolick
Katherine Freiberger
The Eleanor Hale Wilson-Rosalie Speciale Lifetime Achievement Award honors members for their lifetime commitment to service in Mu Phi Epsilon beyond the local chapter level. This award was established in 1998.
Awarded to Myrta Borges Knox, Epsilon Xi/Rochester, for her significant service to the Fraternity beyond the local chapter level as Chapter Advisor to Mu Upsilon, District Director, International First Vice President and International ACME Chairman.
Previous recipients of the Eleanor Hale Wilson-Rosalie Speciale Lifetime Achievement Award were:
Beth Kalmbach Shafe, Phi Kappa/Phoenix
Lois Ayres Gordon, Phi Pi/Wichita
International Executive Board
The International Executive Board (IEB) is elected at the International Convention and serves until the next Convention. They are:
Frances Cernich Irwin, Ed.D., Epsilon Upsilon, President, St. Louis, MO
1st Vice President/Extension Officer
2nd Vice President/Collegiate Advisor
3rd Vice President/Alumni Advisor
4th Vice President/Music Advisor
5th Vice President/Eligibility Advisor
The current Executive Secretary-Treausurer, selected by the IEB, is Gloria Debatin, Phi Chi/Fresno.
Honorary Advisory Board
The Honorary Advisory Board consists of Past International Presidents. The current Honorary Advisory Board is:
Wynona Wieting Lipsett, Mu Chi, Mexia, TX
Katherine Guldberg Doepke, Phi Beta, Minneapolis, MN
Lee Clements Meyer, Phi Xi, Austin, TX
Past Fraternity Presidents
YEAR NAME TITLE
1904-1905 Elizabeth Mathias Fuqua Supreme President
1905-1907 Myrtal Palmer Leach Supreme President
1907-1908 Elizabeth Mathias Fuqua Supreme President
1908-1911 Elfrieda Langlois Kent Supreme President
1911-1913 Alice Davis Bradford Supreme President
1913-1915 Ora Bethune Johnson Supreme President
1915-1916 Mary Towsley Pfau Supreme President
1916-1917 Roxielettie Taylor Yeates Supreme President
1917-1920 Harriet Thompson Wright Supreme President
1920-1922 Doris Darvey Benson Supreme President
1922-1924 Persis Heaton (title change during her term) Supreme National President
1924-1926 Persis Heaton National President
1926-1928 Lucille Eilers Brettschneider National President
1928-1932 Orah Ashley Lamke National Presidents
1932-1934 Dorothy Elizabeth Paton National President
1934-1940 Bertha Marron King National President
1940-1942 Elizabeth Ayres Kidd National President
1942-1948 Ava Comin Case National President
1948-1950 Margarette Wible Walker National President
1950-1954 Ruth Row Clutcher National President
1954-1958 Eleanor Hale Wilson National President
1958-1962 Rosalie V. Speciale National President
1962-1964 Janese K. Ridell National President
1964-1968 Janet Adams Wilkie National President
1968-1974 Madge Cathcart Gerke National President
1974-1980 Marian Bowker Davidson National President
1980-1983 Ruth Dean Morris National President
1983-1986 Roberta White O'Connell National President
1986-1992 Lee Clement Myer International President
1992-1995 Katherine G. Doepke International President
1995-1998 Wynona Wieting Lipsett International President
1998-2003 Wynona Wieting Lipsett International President
2003-2008 Frances Cernich Irwin International President
2008-2011 Frances Cernich Irwin International President
International Committee Chairmen and Special Editors
ACME: (Artists, Composers, Musicologists, Educators): Carolyn Hoover, Mu Pi/Tacoma, Vashon, WA
Bylaws: Terry Merrick, Phi Nu/San Francisco, Kentfield, CA
Finance: Kirsten Forbes, Beta Sigma/Denver, Aurora, CO
Membership: Verna Wagner, Epsilon Iota/Spokane, Spokane, WA
Music Librarian and Archives: Wendy Sistrunk, Mu Mu/Kansas City, Independence, MO
Service, Education, Resource, Volunteer (SERV): Annette Albright,Theta/Muncie, Lake Placid, NY
Standing Rules: Heather Hare, Phi Xi/Houston, Houston, TX
Parliamentarian (retiring): Dr. Mary Philips, Epsilon Eta/San Diego, San Diego, CA
Editor, The Triangle of Mu Phi Epsilon: TBA
“Bookshelf” Editor: Rona Commins, Alpha Delta/Sacramento, Sacramento, CA
“Upon Listening” Editor: Sherry Kloss, Epsilon Upsilon/Muncie, Muncie, IN
Arts Administration Editor: Melissa Eddy, Mu Theta/Austin, Austin, TX
Advertising Editor: Janet Scott, Epsilon Tau/St. Louis, St. Louis, MO
Contributing Editors: Wynona Lipsett, Mu Chi/Dallas, Mexia, TX
Doris Braun, Alpha Kappa/Kansas City, Kansas City, MO
Marcus Wyche, Delta Delta/Washington DC, Hyattsville, MD
Click here for a list of Current District Directors
Scholarships, Grants and Awards
Mu Phi Epsilon Fraternity offers a Musicological Research Contest, an Original Composition Contest, the Marian Bowker Davidson Collaborative Piano Award, the Katherine Doepke Creative Programming Award, the Mary Alice Cox Grant for Lifelong Learning, and various awards for its members and chapters.
Mu Phi Epsilon Foundation
The Mu Phi Epsilon Memorial Foundation was established in 1963 and later changed its name to the Mu Phi Epsilon Foundation. It was originally funded by the Fraternity’s Friendship and Memorial Funds and in 1963 became a separate corporation with its own tax-exempt status. The Mu Phi Epsilon Foundation was created to honor the Fraternity’s founders and other deceased members and to fund the philanthropic, scholarship and educational activities of Mu Phi Epsilon. Some of the many scholarships and grants are:
Awards and scholarships for undergraduate and graduate musical performance
Music Education awards
Scholarships for study at recognized summer programs
Doctoral grants
Foreign study grants
Scholarships for voice, instruments, music therapy, jazz, music business, and others
An international performance competition with the winner sponsored in a two-year concert tour
Perhaps the best known Foundation project is the International Competition held in convention years. Originally named the Sterling Staff Competition when established in 1964 by Claudette Sorel, Beta, the competition is designed to help bridge the gap between the aspiring musician and a concert career. Originally the categories were limited to voice, piano, violin or cello, and flute, with organ and accompaniment categories offered occasionally. In 1995 the competition was opened to voice and all instruments. Winners of each competition are provided booking arrangements and paid transportation for two years as collegiate and alumni chapters sponsor the artist(s) in various cities throughout the United States. In recent years the concert tours have included outreach programs of performances, workshops and/or master classes in the communities where the concerts take place.
The International Competition
Perhaps the best known Foundation project is the International Competition held in convention years. Originally named the Sterling Staff Competition when established in 1964 by Claudette Sorel, Beta, the competition is designed to help bridge the gap between the aspiring musician and a concert career. Originally the categories were limited to voice, piano, violin or cello, and flute, with organ and accompaniment categories offered occasionally. In 1995 the competition was opened to voice and all instruments. Winners of each competition are provided booking arrangements and paid transportation for two years as collegiate and alumni chapters sponsor the artist(s) in various cities throughout the United States. In recent years the concert tours have included outreach programs of performances, workshops and/or master classes in the communities where the concerts take place.
1964 Lynn Lewis,Mu Mu, Piano; Virginia Marks, Alpha Eta, Piano
1966 Asuncion Deiparine Liebe, Epsilon Psi, Voice;
Ann Marie Obressa Miller,Epsilon Phi, Voice
1968 Marian Buck-Lew, Epsilon Nu, Piano; Miyoko Nakaya Lotto, Epsilon Psi, Piano;
Karen Laycock Leonard, Phi Upsilon, Organ
1970 Leone Buyse, Mu Upsilon, Flute;
Jane Bakken Klaviter, Epsilon Xi, Accompanist;
Barbara Gray-Massey, Alpha Mu, Organ
1972 Virginia Belwood- Shelton, Alpha Kappa, Piano;
Yumiko Tabuchi, Beta Epsilon, Piano
1974 Barbra Bailey Bradley, Epsilon Omicron, Accompanist;
Judith Balo Goff, Alpha Nu, Voice;
Sherry Kloss, Epsilon Upsilon, Violin;
Maquette Kuper, Beta, Flute;
Judy May, Epsilon Xi, Voice
1977 Cynthia Donnell, Alpha Xi, Voice; Beverly Hoch, Epsilon Phi, Voice
1980 Julie Rosenfeld, Mu Nu, Violin; Roberta Bebb Veasey, Alpha Xi, Voice
1983 Cheryl Elizabeth House, Mu Nu, Cello
1986 Alan Chow, Epsilon Psi, Piano; Ayako Yonetani, Epsilon Psi, Violin
1989 Carole Marie Harris, Mu Theta, Violin; Alison Young, Mu Nu, Flute
1992 Jeanine Wagner, Epsilon Kappa, Voice
1995 Marilyn Harris, Mu Theta, Cello; Elizabeth Moak, Phi Gamma, Piano
1998 Keith Michael Bohm, Alpha Delta, Saxophone
2001 Jorge Avila, Omega Omega, Violin
2003 Marek Szpakiewicz, Mu Nu, Cello
2007 Ruslan Biryukov, Mu Nu, Cello
Other Foundation Philanthropies
Summer tuition scholarships are offered to members of Mu Phi Epsilon attending music programs at Aspen, Banff Music Centre, Brevard Music Center, Chatauqua Institution, Encore School for Strings, Inspiration Point Fine Arts Colony, Music Academy of the West, Round Top, and Tanglewood Music Center. Philanthropic gifts are made to community music schools through the Music Outreach Project.
To commemorate the Golden Anniversary the Mu Phi Epsilon Scholarship Lodge was built at Interlochen National Music Camp. Proceeds from rental of this cabin go to funding scholarships to Interlochen.
To celebrate the 75h Anniversary of Mu Phi Epsilon the Fraternity and the Foundation cooperated in building and endowing a cottage/studio for a composer-in-residence at the Brevard Music Center in North Carolina. The first Composer-In-Residence selected was Emma Lou Diemer, Mu Delta. She accepted but later found it necessary to decline the appointment, so Elie Siegmeister was named as the composer to occupy the Chair of Composition at Brevard Music Center. He has been followed by a very impressive list of American composers since that time:
Ulysses Kay
Leo Smit Robert Washburn
Robert Ward Robert Starer
Wayne Barlow Jim Curnow
Martin Mailman Walter Hartley
Fisher “Mickey” Tull Elliot DeBorgo
Ron Nelson Samuel Adler
David Ward-Steinman David Liptak
Crawford Gates Henry Mollicone
Dan Locklair Claude Baker
John Anthony Lennon Don Freund
Lee Holdridge Dan Locklair
W. Francis McBeth Gunther Schuller, Bright Sheng, Claude Baker
Don Freund, Bright Sheng, Maria Newman
John Beall, Don Freund
Much of this information is contained in A Centennial History of Mu Phi Epsilon compiled by Dr. Wilma Sheridan with Katherine Doepke, Past International President, contributing editor, with additional contributions by Past International President Wynona Lipsett.