Gift Donors

The ECU Music Library has received generous gifts in the form of materials such as scores, books, recordings, and manuscripts from various faculty, music teachers, local collectors, and other universities and entities with prestigious collections. Read below for more information about some of the outstanding donations we’ve received.

John Kramar

Mr. Kramar, baritone, was Associate Professor of Music at the East Carolina University School of Music where he served as Chairperson of the Vocal Studies Department and Director of ECU Opera Theater. He holds degrees from the Curtis Institute of Music and the Eastman School of Music, where he was a scholarship student of Jan DeGaetani.

His extensive performance experience includes participation in the Aspen, Tanglewood, Brevard, and Ravinia festivals; solo engagements at Carnegie Hall, Avery Fisher Hall, Alice Tully Hall, Kennedy Center, Symphony Space, and City Center Encores Series; appearances with opera companies of Sarasota, Santa Fe, Nashville, Houston Grand, and Washington. For many seasons he performed extensively with the New York Vocal Arts Ensemble, with whom he recorded albums of Beethoven, Schubert, and Brahms for the Arabesque label. He has recorded the Collected Songs of Alva Henderson, and Gary Smart’s The Major’s Letter for Albany Records.

Kramar maintained a busy career as a soloist and opera stage director. Recent productions include Riders to the Sea, and Idomeneo, as well as performances of Sir Michael Tippett’s A Child of our Time, Bach’s, St. John Passion, and Wachet auf, and Bruckner’s Mass in D Minor. Kramar’s critically acclaimed production of Bizet’s Carmen was a highlight of Chautauqua Opera’s 2007 season. In addition, he was on Chautauqua Opera’s directing staff for five seasons. Kramar was also on the voice faculty of the Tennessee Governor’s School of the Arts and the New York State Summer School of the Arts.

Mr. Kramar, now retired, graciously donated a portion of his cherished vocal music collection to the Music Library in 2024. It includes reputable editions of vocal scores, anthologies, and a variety of operas, choral pieces, and art songs.

Vance Harper Jones

Mr. Jones has been organist of the First Presbyterian Church of New Bern since 1977. A native of Washington, NC, he received his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in music from the University of Miami and also holds the Master of Librarianship degree from Emory University. Vance has performed over 75 organ concerts in several states. In 1995 he played for the national convention of the Organ Historical Society in Ypsilanti, MI. Before moving to New Bern, Vance served as the organist at Bryan Memorial Methodist Church in Miami, FL, and University Methodist Church in Gainesville.

Vance moved to New Bern in 1976 when he became Librarian at Craven Community College. He retired as Dean of Library Services after 29 years. Mr. Jones donated his extensive organ music collection of over 2,000 scores to the Music Library in 2024.

North Carolina Wesleyan University

This private Methodist university in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, was founded in 1956 as North Carolina Wesleyan College. In the past it offered a healthy music program and maintained a private collection of music used by the chapel choir, organists, and other performers and students. This collection of over 3,000 scores was held by Wesleyan’s library and briefly circulated during the 1960s and ’70s.

The collection was withdrawn from circulation, but remained physically preserved in Wesleyan’s library for decades. With the music program diminished and the library needing space, the collection was transferred to the ECU Music Library in 2023. It includes rare and special collections editions from the 19th century, pristine-condition performance scores for chamber music, vocal, piano, organ, and orchestra, as well as a complete run of study scores for major composers’ works.

Public Radio East (PRE)

PRE is a nonprofit, non-commercial broadcast service licensed to the Craven Community College Board of Trustees. PRE operates out of the New Bern campus. PRE’s WTEB-89.3 FM officially went on air on June 4, 1984. Today, they broadcast 24 hours a day on five frequencies and average 50,000 weekly listeners.

In 2021 the radio station donated thousands of its recordings to the Music Library. Many of these were never played and comprised a diverse collection of classical, opera, folk, and indie recordings.

Robert Morris (1932-2011)

Pianist, composer, poet, and teacher Robert Malcolm Morris made a lasting impression on the east Carolina region through a lifetime dedicated to piano pedagogy.

As a youth, Morris toured as piano soloist with the North Carolina Symphony for two seasons in 1945 and 1950.  He later studied at The Juilliard School of Music, Yale Music School, Duke University and Tulane University.  Earning two degrees in English literature from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (1957 and 1960) he then taught at The Baylor School in Chattanooga, TN, Evansville College in Evansville, IN, and Buffalo State University in Buffalo, NY.

From 1967 to the present Mr. Morris devoted himself to his calling as a piano teacher in Robert Morris Studio, later renamed Robert Morris Academy.  For over 45 years he promoted the growth of musicianship, as well as encouraged sharper eyesight and keener hearing among young and older piano students in Carteret County.

Mr. Morris’s wife has facilitated the donation of his entire music and manuscript collection to the Music Library in 2019. The donation included his own compositions, original music manuscripts, photographs, ephemera, and a vast assortment of piano music scores and books related to piano.