Kelly agrees, and says that Harvard's commitment to give students a real--as opposed to cursory--music education is what makes the music department worthwhile.

"There is the general perception that very often academic courses in conservatories are service courses, giving general knowledge to students who really just need to practice a lot," Kelly says. "We expect absolutely first rate work and really attention to the courses. It raises the bar for everybody."

Although Harvard doesn't want to become a conservatory, a number of years ago, the possibility arose of a joint program with NEC.

But Levin says music department didn't want to do that, for fear of losing Harvard's best performers to NEC orchestras and music classes.

"At issue in the end would be whether students from both institutions would benefit from such a program," Levin says. "If we had to sacrifice HRO, it would devastate the Harvard musical community," he says.

Department administrators realize there is work to be done. With an expanding faculty and a growing understanding of students needs, Kelly says improvements are not far away.

"Things are changing," he says. "Over the past decade we've given a lot more attention to performers, and we're integrating performance into a lot more of what we do."

--Kirsten G. Studlien can be reached at studlien@fas.harvard.edu