MONROVIA – The Amos C. Sawyer College of Social Sciences and Humanities at the University of Liberia on Tueday, 3 March 2026, launched its short-term diploma program in music, and named the program the “Agnes Nebo vonBallmos Music”diploma program in music.
The late Prof. VonBallmos was a Liberian music professor, Liberian folk music scholar, conductor, composer and lawyer. She taught at the University of Liberia for 30 plus years. She earned master’s degree in Ethnomusicology from Indiana University in the USA and Undergraduate degree in Piano Performance from Philadelphia Conservatory of Music in the USA.
The six months program will be hosted in the Department of Fine and Performing Arts at the Amos C. Sawyer College
It provides understanding opportunities for students who wanting to pursue short-term potential, aural skills, knowledge and musicality pedagogy.
On behalf of Prof. Dr. Layli Maparyan, President of the University of Liberia, the official launch was led by the former First Lady of Liberia and widow of Dr. Amos Claudius Sawyer, Mrs. Thelma E. Duncan Sawyer. The ceremony took place during Sawyer College’s annual academic recognition and honoring program held at UL VIP Lounge in Fendall.
Speaking at the official launch, the Dean of the College, Prof. Dr. Josephus M Gray disclosed that the diploma program in musical serve as a pathway for students to develop, explore, and earn short-term career in the mucis.
Meanwhile, three years ago, the Faculty Senate of the University of Liberia approved the establishment of the Department of Fine and Performing Arts to offer majors in five disciplines including Fine Arts, Threater Arts, Drama performance, Dance and Music education, respectively
Mrs. Agnes Nebo von Ballmoos was born February 21 1938 in Liberia and passed away on March 29 2000 in London. Mrs. von Ballmoos completed a master’s degree in Ethnomusicology from Indiana University in the USA and in 1959 earned an undergraduate degree in Piano Performance from the Philadelphia Conservatory of Music. In 1989, Mrs. von Ballmoos completed a Bachelor of Laws degree from the University of Liberia.
She taught at the University of Liberia for nearly 30 years. Mrs. von Ballmoos was a Liberian music professor, Liberian folk music scholar, conductor, composer, and lawyer. She helped preserve Liberian folk music by collecting and transcribing music from diverse cultural traditions around the country and composing original arrangements of traditional songs.
She was a pioneer in the transcription of Liberian folk songs into written form and taught at the University of Liberia for nearly 30 years. Under her leadership, the university choir gave concerts at venues around the world, performing a varied repertoire that included classical pieces, spirituals, and traditional Liberian music.
As a child, Mrs. von Ballmoos attended the Bible Industrial Academy in Grand Bassa County and Suehn Mission School in Bomi County. She received a scholarship for academic excellence to complete her high school studies at Nannie Helen Burroughs School in Washington, D.C. She earned an undergraduate degree in piano performance in 1959 at the Philadelphia Conservatory of Music.
In 1975, she completed a master’s degree in ethnomusicology from Indiana University, which she attended on a Fulbright fellowship. Her thesis focused on the social role of folk songs in Liberia. From 1961 to 1990, Mrs. von Ballmoos taught music at the University of Liberia, where she was a founding member of the music program and conducted the university choir.
Mrs. Von Ballmoos introduced traditional Liberian music into the choir’s repertoire for the first time. “Our research began in 1966 with the arrangement of seven songs performed by the University of Liberia choir–the very first time in our history of indigenous songs being performed by our highest institution. The idea thrilled the entire community and we received encouraging letters of congratulations and compliments,” she wrote.
Under her direction, the choir gained international attention for its performances, which included a combination of European classical music, African-American spirituals and traditional Liberian songs. The group gave concerts around the world, including a 1974 performance at an international choral festival at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York City, where it was the only group representing an African country.
In 1989, Mrs. von Ballmoos completed a Bachelor of Laws degree from the University of Liberia and became a lawyer at a Monrovia law firm. She moved to London the following year to escape the First Liberian Civil War. She worked there as a legal consultant and died in London in 2000. Founded in 2009, the University of Liberia Alumni Chorus performs an annual concert in the United States to celebrate Mrs. von Ballmoos’s legacy and raise money for the university’s music department.
Choir alumni remember Mrs. von Ballmoos as a leader who expected excellence and who “taught us everything; she taught us to appreciate music, she taught us to appreciate African culture, how to dress, how wrap our hair, how to conduct ourselves in public.” Choir alumni credit the discipline and commitment that she instilled with helping them survive during the civil war.
