Mark Huxsoll knows music. Currently director of the Kardon-Northeast branch of the Settlement Music School, one of the communities most respected music programs, Huxsoll has dedicated his life to music and music education. On June 1 of this year he will become the new director of Temple University’s Music Prep Division.
After conducting a national search, Temple’s Esther Boyer College of Music selected Huxsoll from dozens of other applicants.
“Mark Huxsoll is an outstanding musician, educator and administrator who brings 20 years of leadership and experience in the area of community schools to the Boyer College and Temple University,” Dean Robert Stroker said after announcing Huxsoll’s appointment.
The music prep division of Temple’s School of Music is located at Temple University Center City campus and has more than 2,400 enrollments annually. It offers a spectrum of programs to children and adults.
These programs include private and group lessons for musicians of all ages, dance classes, basic musicianship and music appreciation. A special outreach project, the Community Music Scholars Program, offers children from schools within Philadelphia weekly private instrumental lessons for a nominal fee. As director of the prep division, it will be Huxsoll’s job to oversee all of the programs.
One of the most notable programs within the music prep division is the Center for Gifted Young Musicians. Created in 1986, the Center is designed specifically for training talented children between the ages of six and 17.
“It’s hard to imagine kids that young even holding violins, let alone play as well as they do,” Assistant Dean of Music David Brown said.
Instrumentalists and vocalists from the tri-state area are selected by audition and are given comprehensive and challenging instruction. They are also offered concert performance opportunities through one of the three orchestras within the center.
“Temple’s Music Prep division has the potential to intensify and expand its renowned offerings to benefit all students,” Huxsoll said. “As a conduit for the music and dance education excellence of the Boyer College, the prep will further strengthen its connection to the community at large. I am thrilled to have the opportunity to lead such a high-quality program.”
Thrilled is also the best way to describe how the music department feels about Huxsoll’s appointment to the position.
“To have someone with Mark’s experience, who has already been running a school of the arts, is great for them, and they know it,” Brown noted. “He can hit the ground running.”
Other than being an administrator and an accomplished trumpet player, Huxsoll is the Founder of the Clarendon Brass Ensemble, a substitute trumpet player for the Philadelphia Orchestra and Co-founder of the Chestnut Brass Company.
He is a member of the National Guild of Community Schools of the Arts, The American Federation of Musicians, the Musical Fund Society and the International Trumpet Guild. He received his bachelor’s degree in music from the Philadelphia Musical Academy and took administrative and management courses at the University of Pennsylvania.
Huxsoll will be succeeding Nancy Hess who, after serving as the director for 22 years, has chosen to retire. With Huxsoll as its new director, Temple’s already renowned music prep division can continue to provide quality music education to its students and the community.
For more information about Temple’s Music Prep Programs, visit www.temple.edu/boyer/musicprep.
Sarah Lisitski can be reached at sjlisit@temple.edu.
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