Professor of Piano Anton Nel has been named to the recently established Joe R. and Teresa Lozano Long Endowed Chair in Piano in the Butler School of Music at The University of Texas at Austin.
The chair, announced in July 2009, was established through a $1 million endowment from the Longs with the goal of assuring a permanent presence of top international talent on the university’s piano faculty.
“We are very appreciative of the generosity of Joe and Teresa Long in establishing the Long Chair to support an outstanding pianist on the Butler School of Music faculty,” said B. Glenn Chandler, director of the Butler School of Music. “And no one is more deserving than Professor Anton Nel to be the initial holder of this chair.”
Nel is a highly decorated international performer and well-known member of the Austin arts community. He joined the Music faculty in the 1980s and has been a professor of piano since 2000.
“I’m so honored to be appointed as the holder of the new Joe R. and Teresa Lozano Long Endowed Chair in Piano,” Nel said. “How wonderful for me to be associated with Joe and Terry who have given so much to the arts in Austin. I can now proudly carry their name with me wherever I go.”
The Longs have supported the visual and performing arts for many years, and their contributions have been instrumental to the development of the arts in Austin. Joe Long is president of the Austin Symphony Orchestra Society and Teresa Lozano Long is on the board of directors for Ballet Austin. Their dedication to the arts was the driving force behind the renovation of Palmer Auditorium, now the Long Center for the Performing Arts.
