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USI receives $2M gift to support music education

USI Liberal Arts Center. (courtesy: USI Photography and Multimedia)

EVANSVILLE, Ind. (Inside INdiana Business) — The University of Southern Indiana Foundation has received a $2 million gift for the establishment of a fund to support and develop music programs at USI. The gift comes from Philip Hagemann, who is an award-winning composer and grew up in Posey County.

USI will re-name its performing arts department in his honor. The university says the newly established Hagemann Music Program Fund will support the current music ensembles, facilities and bolster efforts to create a full degree program in music at USI.

“With hard work and attention to detail I achieved success and want others to share in that success,” said Hagemann. “What better place than the university built ‘by the people and for the people’ a scant 12 miles from my hometown.”

The university says Hagemann is an accomplished musician, producer and award-winning composer of two full-length operas, 10 one-act chamber operas and 75 choral works. He was awarded an honorary Doctor of Humanities degree from USI in 2016.