TCU Magazine: A Look Inside Auctioneering

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Morgan Hopson’s music career took a vocal turn — now she’s an award-winning auctioneer.

by Rachel Stowe Master

Morgan Hopson ’11 was just 2½ when she began playing the violin. “I think I first saw it on Sesame Street, and I kept bugging my parents about it.”

Her mom found an early childhood music program at the Suzuki Music Institute of Dallas, and they made the 75-mile trek from Bonham, Texas, multiple times a week.

Morgan Hopson ’11

Wanting to play the violin in college and cut a path in the music industry, she auditioned for the TCU School of Music. Faculty Germán Gutiérrez and Curt Thompson were especially struck by her talent.

“We granted her a full tuition scholarship based on the successful audition she presented to the TCU String Faculty,” said Gutiérrez, professor of orchestral studies. “She was also a brilliant student with a good academic record. I am so glad to see how the students grow and develop into great professionals and citizens. Morgan makes us all very proud of what we do at TCU.”

Interested in the business side of music, Hopson earned two degrees: in marketing and in music. Her plan was to move to Nashville, Tennessee — Music City, USA — and pursue studio work while juggling a job at a production or publishing company but then another career path called her name. A marketing contest took Hopson, then a senior in the Neeley School of Business, to Oklahoma where she met family friend Craig Buford ’78, a real estate broker and auctioneer, for lunch and shared her Nashville dreams.

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