'Maestro James DePreist, we honor you here today for your outstanding contributions to humanity through music.'

[From left: Trustee Emeritus Robert Brasler '58, honorary-degree recipient James DePreist, Associate Professor of Music Robert Pound and President William G. Durden '71.]

On May 7, 2011 AfriClassical posted: “Dickinson College: 'James DePreist will receive an honorary doctor of arts degree' May 22.” Dickinson College, of Carlisle, Pennsylvania, is a private school founded in 1773.

Dickinson College
"Honorary Degree: James DePreist

Maestro James DePreist, we honor you here today for your outstanding contributions to humanity through music.

"Though only four of the nearly 600 members of the class of 2011 are music majors who have actually studied conducting, your career and accomplishments evince the value and rewards of a liberal-arts education as well as the rewards of fortitude and perseverance in the face of overwhelming difficulties.

“A native of the great state of Pennsylvania, you received your bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Pennsylvania. Accepted to the prestigious Wharton School, you matriculated there specifically because its undergraduate program comprised a balanced, liberal-arts education, and we therefore note with great satisfaction that your extraordinary accomplishments in the highly specialized field of conducting began with a liberal-arts degree.”

“You have made over 50 recordings in your career including the highly celebrated series of the works of Russian composer Dmitri Shostakovich with the Helsinki Philharmonic. You were hailed by the Chicago Tribune as 'one of the finest conductors the nation has produced,' and you were awarded the National Medal of Arts in 2005.” [AfriClassical.com profiles James DePreist (b. 1936), who also has his own website, http://www.JamesDePreist.com.]

After Open-Heart Surgery, Measha Brueggergosman Receives Honorary Degree in Fredericton

[“Measha Brueggergosman is rebounding after an emergency procedure to repair a dissected aorta, a rare and often fatal affliction.” (Photo: The Globe & Mail, Toronto, June 29, 2009)]

The African-Canadian soprano Measha Brueggergosman was the subject of a previous article by Sergio Mims,"EbonyJet.com Interviews African Canadian Soprano Measha Brueggergosman."
CBC News
CBC.ca/
“Canadian soprano Brueggergosman gets honorary degree”
Last Updated: Thursday, July 16, 2009
“Canadian soprano Measha Brueggergosman was in her hometown of Fredericton on Wednesday night to receive an honorary degree from St. Thomas University during its summer convocation. With the international opera star was one of her first voice instructors, Mabel Doak, who also received an honorary degree. The liberal arts university's convocation was planned as a time to celebrate the relationship between students and teachers.

“Brueggergosman, 32, said it meant a lot to receive the degree in her hometown, and with her teacher by her side. 'It’s all the more special that I get to receive it with Mabel Doak, who was a very important mentor for me in my early education, and is also a pillar of the Fredericton community,' she said. 'When I was studying with Mabel, it was really the beginning of my formation as an artist, as a student, as a teacher myself, as somebody who had hoped to be the very best at what I could do.'”

“Brueggergosman was awarded her degree based on her contribution to the arts. In June, she underwent emergency open-heart surgery to repair a torn aorta. She is under doctor’s orders to rest for at least a month, and three appearances with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra as well as a performance in Austria were cancelled. The internationally renowned opera star has won a Juno Award, and performed for the Queen and Nelson Mandela. She recently achieved a dramatic weight loss of about 150 pounds, which she said was a result of Bikram yoga.”