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New Music Building And Cultural Corridor

On Saturday, February 11, Board of Trustees

President Amy Falls ’82, P’19, ’21, and her family gathered for the ceremonial groundbreaking of Andover’s newest building. Soon there will be music emanating from this revitalized area of campus.

Located on Phillips Street behind the Peabody Institute of Archaeology, Falls Hall is named in honor of Amy, husband Hartley Rogers P’19, ’21, and their three daughters, Alice ’19, Athena ’21, and Eleanor.

“Our new music center will be a hub for intellectual and artistic creativity,” said Head of School Raynard S. Kington, MD, PhD, P’24. “I am especially mindful of Amy’s pathbreaking philanthropy and leadership, and I am grateful to the Falls-Rogers family for helping Andover build a facility to support its excel- lent music programs and performances.”

The center is made possible thanks to $25 million in Knowledge & Goodness campaign investments and additional funding from the Academy.

“Music has played a significant role in our family’s life,” said Falls. “With this new building, we have a tremendous opportunity to promote music as essential to the performing arts and cultural diversity of our community—both are vital to the Andover experience.”

The 30,000-square-foot building is scheduled to open in fall 2024 and will feature a 250-seat performance hall, flexible ensemble spaces, and classrooms. Falls Hall will also include 19 practice rooms, an expansive music library, an electronic music studio, technology labs, and a “rock room” with recording and broadcast capabilities. The Academy’s current music building, Graves Hall, will be refurbished for other campus uses.

Falls Hall will be the focal point of what is being called a new “cultural corridor” on campus. Concurrently with this new construction, the Peabody Institute will undergo renovations to upgrade its HVAC and shelving systems, revise spaces for offices and programming, and create a dedicated tribal consultation room to facilitate ongoing dialogue with Indigenous partners.

—ALLYSON IRISH

You can now add Hollywood Walk of Fame to Kevin “K.O.” Olusola ’06’s resume. A singer, songwriter, and beatboxer for the Grammy Award–winning a cappella group Pentatonix, Olusola and his fellow musicians were bestowed with Walk of Fame stars in February. Other Andover alums with stars: Dick Wolf ’64, Jack Lemmon ’43, and Humphrey Bogart ’20.

Andover and the Military historian David Chase, faculty emeritus, recently compiled a database of more than 800 Andover students and alumni who served in the Civil War, including 120 who died defending the Union. His research can be accessed online via the Oliver Wendell Holmes Library Archives and Special Collections website.