Center for Black Music Research: Farewell to Monica Hairston O'Connell and Morris Phibbs

Monica Hairston O'Connell

Morris Phibbs
(LinkedIn)

Monica Hairston O’Connell writes:

Dear Friends of the Center for Black Music Research,

Thank you for your continued support of this essential organization. I speak for the entire staff when I say that we have been and continue to be energized and encouraged by your participation in and enthusiasm for CBMR programs, by your trust in and support for the CBMR as a unique multi-media, cross-genre, cross-disciplinary repository, and by the myriad ways in which you continue to expand on the CBMR’s rich tradition of knowledge production and dissemination within and beyond institutional walls.

As of July 1, Morris Phibbs has retired as CBMR Deputy Director (please see below for more). I have resigned as Executive Director; August 28th was my last day in this role. The CBMR will continue its work at Columbia College Chicago.

It has been an honor, over the course of the last eight years, to work on behalf of the CBMR’s crucial mission and with its talented staff. I am also grateful for the opportunity to have met and worked with so many of you. Thank you for helping maintain such an important resource.

Please stay tuned for further information on the CBMR. It will be posted on its website and blog as it becomes available.

Warm regards,

Monica Hairston O’Connell

Morris Phibbs Retires from the CBMR

It is with mixed feelings that the CBMR announces the retirement of long time deputy director, Morris Phibbs.

Phibbs holds an M.M. degree in music history and literature from West Virginia University and has done doctoral work in choral literature and conducting. He came to the CBMR from the College Music Society where he was manager of membership services and managing editor of College Music Symposium; Directory of Music Faculties in College and Universities: U.S. and Canada; CMS Proceedings: The National and Regional Meetings; the CMS Reports series; and the Music Faculty Vacancy List. He joined the CBMR in 1989 as Coordinator of Programs and was responsible for coordinating and managing all public programs, including local meetings, seminars, and colloquia, national and international conferences, and performance activities. Phibbs took on additional responsibilities over time including grant proposal writing and administration, management of computer networks and operations, and manager of publications including CBMR Digest. He ultimately became Deputy Director in 2007, a title he held for the remainder of his tenure.

Just one among the numerous achievements and highlights of his time at the CBMR, Phibbs conceptualized and implemented a multifaceted Florence Price initiative which included the commissioned reconstruction of Price’s Concerto in One Movement, a major recording of Price’s orchestral work and a full program of orchestral music by black composers at the Harris Theater. All activities featured the CBMR’s New Black Music Repertory Ensemble.