David Swanzy Papers

David Swanzy received his undergraduate degree in 1958 from Centenary College (Shreveport, La.) and his Ph.D. in 1966 from Michigan State University (East Lansing). The majority of David Swanzy's professional life was spent in New Orleans, where he was Dean of the College of Music of Loyola University. He also served temporarily as the New Orleans Symphony as its Executive Director. Similarly, he held an appointment with the National Endowment for the Arts in Washington, D.C. in their music executive-exchange program. Prior to his work in New Orleans, he held professorships at Southern Methodist University and the Edinboro University of Pennsylvania. He was also a visiting professor at Arizona State University, Brigham Young University, and the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. Mr. Swanzy founded the Louisiana/Texas Composer's Retreat in Shelby County, Texas and, during the 1980's, established the Leadville, Colorado Summer Music Festival. He is now in retirement as Dean Emeritus of the College of Music, Loyola University New Orleans.  The New Orleans Philharmonic–Symphony Society grew out of the 1944 merger of the New Orleans Civic Symphony Orchestra, which was founded in 1936, and the New Orleans Philharmonic Society. At first they called themselves the New Orleans Symphony Society, but the organization would go on to rename itself twice more: the New Orleans Philharmonic-Symphony Society in 1952 and the New Orleans Symphony in 1989.  The organization went bankrupt in 1991. Members of the defunct group went on to form the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra.

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