Mettens (2013, music composition and performance certificate; pictured at left) and Whelan (2016 master’s, music composition; pictured in mast) are among four University of South Carolina graduates who are writing pieces for the 2024-25 season of Freeman Sundays, a series of concerts that raise money for music scholarships. Alumni compositions are a special addition to the performances to commemorate the school’s 100-year milestone.

“I'm incredibly honored to be writing a piece to celebrate the centennial. It's an opportunity to reflect on what the School of Music has meant to me and thousands of alumni throughout the institution's history,” says Mettens. “I wouldn't be the composer I am today without the education and experiences offered at USC, and considering these kinds of life-changing transformations multiplied across all of the School of Music's graduates, the cumulative impact is truly staggering.”

Freeman Sundays is among the concerts and special performances with a centennial flair to commemorate the School of Music’s 100th anniversary. Designed to showcase its programs, students and faculty, the theme for the yearlong celebration, “Sing Thy High Praise: 100 Years of Music at Carolina,” is pulled from the first line of USC’s alma mater.

Named for philanthropist Cornelia Freeman, the series started in the late ’70s and during its 45-year history has raised about $500,000 for scholarships and expenses, says School of Music Dean Tayloe Harding. To accommodate faculty schedules and performance careers, the series has evolved over the years to its current schedule of two concerts in the fall and two in the spring.

Scholarship money we can offer to a student helps, and the Freeman series is one of four or five major scholarship generators for the music school that has made that difference over the years.

— School of Music Dean Tayloe Harding

Traditionally, the series features faculty as well as emeritus faculty playing chamber music. In addition to new alumni compositions, students will also participate in the concerts during this centennial year.

“For faculty, it's a great opportunity to collaborate with colleagues who we may not have a chance to perform with otherwise,” says bassoon professor Mike Harley, the current chair of the faculty committee that organizes Freeman Sunday concerts. “We have the opportunity to choose pieces that we are particularly interested in playing and other faculty that we want to collaborate with.”

Another special feature for the centennial celebration is that each concert in the series will showcase faculty ensembles from each instrument specialty in the school. Whelan’s and Mettens’s compositions will premier during Freeman Sundays this fall for the voice and string faculty (Sept. 29) and the wind and brass faculty (Oct. 27), respectively. Mettens’s composition also will be performed by USC faculty and students in New York City on Nov. 27 to celebrate the Carolina Band’s participation in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. 

Alumni JaRon Brown and Andy Akiho are composing pieces for spring concerts that feature piano, percussion and guitar areas (Feb. 2) and all areas (April 6), respectively. In addition to the Akiho premiere and other chamber works, the April concert will include a set performed by the School of Music’s jazz faculty.

“When Mike Harley approached me to write a piece for the Freeman Series as part of the USC School of Music Centennial Celebration, I was honored. When he specified that I’d be writing for two incredible faculty singers, Ashley Emerson and Dominic Armstrong, I was elated,” Whelan says. “Writing for voice, working with singers, and working with poets are my favorite parts of composing.”

Harley is thrilled that all four composers welcomed the opportunity to help celebrate the centennial.

“We are really fortunate to have some wonderful composition grads working in the field,” he says. “Part of the fun of commissioning a new work is the mystery behind it. You know something about the composer's language and style, but new pieces can often take a form that you never expected. It’s special to be a part of bringing a new work into the world, and it’s a wonderful way to celebrate the School of Music and the school's impact.”

Part of that impact, of course, is scholarships to recruit the nation's best students to the USC School of Music. 

“Recruiting music students is highly competitive, and you have to be able to offer them something that another institution can’t, and often that comes down to cost,” Harding says. “Scholarship money we can offer to a student helps, and the Freeman series is one of four or five major scholarship generators for the music school that has made that difference over the years.”

As an out-of-state student, Alexandra Fife (2013, music performance) says receiving a Freeman Scholarship took the pressure off the expense of college. 

“It changed my life,” says the USC Bands administrative coordinator. “It gave me opportunities I never would have had. I traveled to China with the wind ensemble. I was part of a woodwind quintet that received a grant to play for the Veterans Hospital. Those were amazing experiences.”

Another goal of the concerts is to bring together the university and its neighbors in the Midlands and in the state. A core part of the School of Music mission is to engage with the community and encourage connection.

“A live concert experience is a wonderful example of a community forming for an evening or afternoon to join in a shared interest and shared experience,” Harley says. “The School of Music works hard at being a seminal part of Columbia's artistic scene. We hope the Freeman concerts and the many other recitals and events students and faculty perform in each year make Columbia a richer place to live.”

If you’re going:

Freeman Sundays take place at 3 p.m. in the School of Music Recital Hall.

• Sept. 29: Voice and string areas. Alumna composer Rachel Whelan.
• Oct. 27: Wind and brass areas. Alumni composer Clay Mettens.
•  Feb. 2: Piano, percussion and guitar areas. Alumni composer JaRon Brown.
• April 6: All areas. Alumni composer Andy Akiho.

Tickets: $15 adults; $10 seniors, USC faculty and staff; $5 students. Free for School of Music students, staff and faculty. Tickets are available at the Koger Center for the Arts Box Office (803-251-2222) and at the door.