DePaul University’s School of Music is home to a renowned conservatory for music performance. Now, thanks to significant philanthropic support from Dr. Geoffrey A. Hirt and Mrs. Linda L. Hirt, it is poised to further elevate its orchestral and vocal training for undergraduate and graduate students. The landmark gift is especially poignant because its donors have played exceptional parts themselves as DePaul faculty, now retired, who taught and inspired generations of students.

Geoffrey Hirt was a professor of finance at DePaul’s Driehaus College of Business for 30 years, chairing its Department of Finance from 1987 to 1997. Dr. Hirt is an internationally known author of finance textbooks. He serves on the Dean’s Advisory Board at the university’s School of Music, where Linda Hirt, pianist, vocal coach and educator, was a faculty member for 40 years. She was the first opera coach hired at the school, where she also served as vocal coordinator and taught collaborative piano and Italian, French and German diction.

The couple’s gift establishes the Geoffrey and Linda Hirt Orchestral Endowment, the Linda L. Hirt Vocal Institute Endowment, and the Anne Perillo Vocal Performance Masterclass Endowment.

“I’m deeply grateful for this extraordinary act of generosity, which will open new doors for our student musicians to develop their craft and share it with the world,” said DePaul University President Robert L. Manuel. “What makes this gift especially meaningful is that it comes from members of the DePaul community who have devoted their lives to music and to our students. Their legacy will resonate for generations—on our stages, in our classrooms and in the careers of the musicians they help shape.”

The Geoffrey and Linda Hirt Orchestral Endowment ensures that the DePaul Symphony Orchestra regularly performs off campus in Chicago’s most distinguished performance venues, including concert halls used by professional symphony orchestras.

“This fund ensures that DePaul’s student musicians experience the artistic rigor, visibility and inspiration that only these spaces can provide,” said John Milbauer, dean of the School of Music. “These concerts also strengthen DePaul’s connection to the cultural life of Chicago, inviting the public to engage with emerging talent in settings that honor the depth, richness and transcendent capabilities of orchestral music.”

The endowed fund supports venue-related expenses, enabling performances to be offered free of charge to audiences. Secondarily, it may also be used for programmatic needs at the school, such as guest artists and conductors, production expenses, instrument repair or acquisition, and enrichment opportunities related to performance experiences.

The Linda L. Hirt Vocal Institute, a culminating tribute to its namesake’s life’s work, enhances vocal performance education and training in the School of Music. The endowed fund supports such needs as student travel, auditions and career preparation, mentoring, faculty support, visiting artists, performance and production expenses, and expanded vocal coaching opportunities. 

The institute includes the Anne Perillo Vocal Performance Masterclass Endowment, which honors an esteemed professor of vocal performance at DePaul who passed away in 2025. It establishes a vocal performance masterclass series, providing support for guest artist and educator recruitment and hosting, instructional activities, and programmatic expenses related to student development, performance excellence and professional readiness. 

The series provides students with a unique opportunity to refine their craft as they receive real-time coaching from distinguished guest artists, gaining insight into interpretation, technique, language, stage presence and professional practice.

The Hirts’ gift follows a long history of giving back to DePaul. Over the past 27 years, they endowed 14 other funds that strengthen access and opportunity for students through scholarships, programs, teaching and research, primarily in the School of Music and Driehaus College of Business, but also for DePaul Athletics through men’s golf and women’s tennis scholarships.

Among these are study abroad programs for music and business students. One funds a scholarship for opera and voice students accepted into Musica nelle Marche, a program founded by the Hirts in Urbino, Italy, where students receive vocal and dramatic coaching, study Italian opera, language and culture, and perform in venues across the Marche region in eastern Italy.

“Music has been a defining part of our lives and a passion we’ve long shared with students, faculty and staff at DePaul’s world-class School of Music,” Geoffrey Hirt said. “Linda and I are thrilled to give back to an institution we cherish and that makes such a difference for the performing arts, and to provide resources that help students succeed in their musical journeys and careers for years to come. Doing so enriches us all.”