performers on darkened stage from 2018 Production of Lucretia
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Terrence Thornhill Receives Alumni Achievement Award

Posted in: Cali News

Terrence Thornhill

The Cali School of Music Alumni Achievement award was created this spring to recognize the professional success of a graduate with a minimum of five years in their chosen field. The first recipient of this honor was alumnus Terrence Thornhill who graduated 7 years ago from the Bachelor of Music in Music Education program. He is an inspiration to our community.

Since his graduation, Terrence achieved great success as a music educator, performer, and arts education advocate. Through a variety of teaching roles, he works with more than 800 students each week. He is the strings teacher in the Orange Public School District; the cello instructor for Sonic Explorations (an El Sistema-inspired program in Orange, NJ); the founding teaching artist of the Paterson Music Project; a cello coach for New Jersey Symphony Youth Orchestras, and the head teaching artist in their training ensemble program; Director of the NJ ASTA Chamber Music Institute; founder, Conductor, and Music Director of the Community Artist Ensemble; Vice President of Notes for Change Inc., which is a non-profit organization dedicated to social change through music; and founder of Music for Life, a music program that provides musical instruments and lessons to students of color in the Morris County area.

Terrence is an active cellist and conductor, and he serves as Assistant Conductor of the Oscar Ravina Youth Symphony in Maplewood, NJ, and music director of the Varsity Chamber Orchestra. He made his Broadway debut (as a cellist) in 2016 in the pit orchestra of Finding Neverland. He has played on late night television shows including Saturday Night Live and the Jimmy Fallon Show, and has performed with jazz legends Craig Harris and Esperanza Spalding. He is also one third of the viral music group Teacher Time; a group which maintains a large social media following, and which was featured at the 2016 Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.

In December 2017 Terrence received an honorary Doctorate from the University of Orange (Orange, NJ). To quote the University’s citation: "his deep understanding of and commitment to the idea that music is about more than sound and silence, more than technical ability, more than entertainment – that it is at its most fundamental about being with and for other people. This is demonstrated throughout all the facets of his musical life in the kindness, joy, and compassion he demonstrates in his performance, teaching, and advocacy for music and music education."