Unique Gift Creates Stamps Family Foundation Scholarship Fund at the Frost School of Music

A unique gift from the Stamps Family Charitable Foundation will significantly enhance the undergraduate program at the Frost School of Music.

A unique gift will significantly enhance the undergraduate program at the University of Miami Frost School of Music. Thanks to a donation from the foundation managed by longtime benefactors E. Roe Stamps IV (a UM trustee) and his wife, Penny, UM will establish The Stamps Family Charitable Foundation Music Scholarship Fund.

The Fund will allow the Frost School of Music to attract top student musicians who as part of their curricular program will form very special chamber ensembles. These exceptional young artists will advance together throughout their studies at UM. In the first year, a group of five exceptional freshmen will participate in a jazz quintet. In year two of this program, four more will be admitted to study and participate in a string quartet. Five will participate in a woodwind quintet in the third year, and five will participate in a brass quintet in the fourth year.

Resources from both the Stamps Foundation and the University will fully fund tuition, and room and board for a total of 19 students. As part of their experience, students will receive career guidance and take part in artist-building activities. During their studies, they will be attending special masterclasses, obtaining high-level mentoring, recording music, and playing and touring for key performance opportunities.

The UM Frost School of Music has developed various initiatives, classes and programs that are distinctive in higher education. The School’s innovation, combined with its traditional areas of concentration, offers its students one of the widest choices of career programs of any music school in the nation.

This new scholarship fund reinforces the Frost School’s pragmatic leadership position among its peers. It reimages what a music curriculum is by helping to create entrepreneurial units among its students and improve their professional skill sets. More notably, the program will prepare students for a career in music by giving them access to the world of music.

“Thanks to the generosity of Roe and Penny Stamps, the Frost School is able to offer a singular opportunity for top music students to prepare for brilliant futures. This learning experience may also lead to the students continuing to collaborate professionally in the future,” said Shelly Berg, Dean of the Frost School of Music, and world-renowned jazz pianist.

Roe and Penny Stamps have devoted significant time and resources to philanthropic causes in the South Florida community. In 2003, the couple established the “Stamps Family Charitable Foundation Distinguished Visitor Series” at the Frost School.

“Penny and I are very excited to work with Dean Berg and the Frost School on this program,” Mr. Stamps said. “We can’t wait to see the groups perform together at the University of Miami and in their careers after graduation.”

This innovative combination of funding and real-world experience will help attract the most talented musicians across the country to the Frost School of Music. The undergraduate students will collaborate on both jazz and classical platforms – marking this a one-of-a-kind program.

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The Frost School of Music, one of the only two schools created in 1926 when the University of Miami was founded, is now one of the largest and best music schools located in a private university in the U.S., and one of the most comprehensive in all of higher education. The naming gift from Dr. Phillip and Patricia Frost was one of the historic highlights in the life of the School. Building on its foundation as a Conservatory of Music, the Frost School has pioneered new curricula and was the first in the nation to offer professionally accredited bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Music Business and Music Engineering Technology. The Frost School was also among the first to offer degrees in Studio Music and Jazz, Music Therapy, and Accompanying and Chamber Music. In addition, the Frost School was the first in a major university to develop a student-run record label, ‘Cane Records, and a publishing company, Category Five. The School’s innovative programs, combined with its traditional areas of concentration, offer its students one of the widest choices of career programs of any music school in the nation. The Frost School continues to lead, having recently established a new songwriting degree; the “Bruce Hornsby Creative American Music Program.” Also, the world-renowned Henry Mancini Institute has relocated from Los Angeles to the Frost School. http://www.music.miami.edu