Multi-Million Dollar Commitment Establishes Fabian Center for Musical Excellence at Mercer

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MACON – A large multi-million dollar commitment from a Macon resident and devoted friend of the University will establish the Jo Phelps Fabian Center for Musical Excellence in Mercer University’s Townsend School of Music. The commitment by Fabian is the largest ever, along with the gift that founded the School of Music, to support the arts at Mercer.

“Through the invisible hands of music the soul is touched and healed,” Fabian said in explaining her motivation for making the record financial commitment.

“This commitment reflects Ms. Fabian’s love of the arts and the beauty they bring to life. It is especially appropriate that Ms. Fabian’s legacy will be using her life to enrich the lives of future generations through the arts,” Mercer President William D. Underwood said. “Mercer University recognizes that this is what Ms. Fabian is accomplishing in endowing the Jo Phelps Fabian Center for Musical Excellence. We are profoundly grateful for her generosity.”

The gift will be used to support educational programs for outstanding aspiring musicians; to expand the existing Fabian Concert Series to create the Fabian Concert and Lecture Series, a program that will provide concerts by leading artists and host lectures and symposia on music, philosophy and the arts; and to create the Fabian Scholars program for exceptional student musicians.

“We are grateful for the generosity and trust of Ms. Fabian in establishing the Jo Phelps Fabian Center for Musical Excellence. This gift will provide current and future generations of Mercerians the opportunity to expand their musical horizons, thus further helping to prepare them to be leaders in music and the arts,” said Dr. C. David Keith, dean of the Townsend School of Music. “Her vision that music can touch and heal the soul is in keeping with the holistic approach of music at Mercer.”

Among her many previous gifts to the University, Fabian endowed the Fabian Concert Series, the G. Leslie Fabian Chair in Music and the John E. James Lecture Series in Mercer’s Walter F. George School of Law. She is a Life Member of the Mercer President’s Club.

Fabian is a former board member of the Metropolitan Opera Company in New York City and was a member of the inaugural Alumni-By-Choice class recognized by Mercer this past Homecoming.

About Townsend School of Music

Mercer University’s Townsend School of Music, encompassing the Robert McDuffie Center for Strings, the Joan Stockstill Godsey Center for Keyboard Studies and the Townsend-McAfee Institute for Graduate Studies, offers undergraduate and graduate professional music studies in a comprehensive university environment. An institutional member of the National Association of Schools of Music, Townsend is nationally recognized for its outstanding faculty, award-winning students, performance ensembles and state-of-the-art facilities. For more information and a complete listing of this season’s concerts please visit www.mercer.edu/music.