Virginia 'Ginny' Mancini

The Phillip and Patricia Frost School of Music at the University of Miami has received a $500,000 pledge from Los Angeles-based music philanthropist Virginia “Ginny” Mancini.

This gift, part of Momentum2: The Breakthrough Campaign for the University of Miami, will support the artistic director position of the Henry Mancini Institute at the Frost School of Music, currently held by multi-Grammy Award winning film composer and jazz trumpeter Terence Blanchard.

Now in its fourth season at the Frost School of Music, the Henry Mancini Institute brings engaging cross-genre orchestra and chamber music performances to the South Florida community through its HMI Outbound community engagement program. Each year more than 65 Mancini Fellows, who are primarily graduate students, are supported in part by a $500,000 three-year grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and a $500,000 matching gift by University of Miami national trustee and business leader Adrienne Arsht. Individual patrons in the “Moon River Society” also support the HMI mission with additional scholarship funding for Mancini Fellows.

“The mission of the Henry Mancini Institute has always been to provide young musicians with a broader training experience than in traditional settings, so they can thrive and grow in their careers. [Dean of the Frost School of Music] Shelly Berg is the right person at the right time to take the Mancini Institute to a new level, as is our new artistic director, Terence Blanchard. I am very pleased to support their efforts through my charitable contributions. Henry always told aspiring students to go where the action is.

“Today, the action can be anywhere in the world, or even technology-based. There is a wide palette out there and it pleases me that the Henry Mancini Institute at the Frost School of Music is helping young musicians achieve their aspirations, and at the same time fostering new performance approaches for the future. Our Mancini Fellows are forging new musical paths and I’m happy that the Mancini Institute is taking such a pivotal role in inspiring them,” said Mancini.

Ginny Mancini was a vocalist with Mel Torme and the MelTones in the 1950s and toured with big bands of the era. A longtime trustee of the Los Angeles Philharmonic and many other national music organizations, Mancini’s lifetime support of the performing arts was honored with the prestigious Frost Legacy Award in 2011 from the Frost School of Music. Her husband, the late Henry Mancini, composed music for iconic motion pictures including Moon River from Breakfast at Tiffany’s, The Days of Wine and Roses, The Pink Panther, Peter Gunn and Victor Victoria. With more than 2,300 film and television credits to his name, Henry Mancini’s music is widely recognized and beloved the world over.