Robert Mann
Encyclopedia
Robert Mann is a musician, composer, and conductor.
He was a founding member and first violin
ist of the Juilliard String Quartet
for 52 years, and mentor to younger generations of string musicians.
Born in Portland, Oregon
, Mann began his study of the violin at age nine; at 13, he was accepted into the class of Edouard Hurlimann, concertmaster of the Portland Symphony. In 1938, he moved to New York City to enroll in the Juilliard School
, where he studied violin with Edouard Dethier
, composition with Bernard Wagenaar
and Stefan Wolpe
, and conducting with Edgar Schenkman. Mr. Mann won the prestigious Naumburg Competition
in 1941 and made his New York debut two days after the attack on Pearl Harbor. Shortly after his graduation from Juilliard, he was drafted into the army.
At the invitation of Juilliard’s president, William Schuman
, Robert Mann founded the Juilliard String Quartet
in 1946 and served as the ensemble’s first violinist until his retirement from the quartet in 1997. The quartet, which celebrated its golden jubilee during the 1996–97 season, had played approximately 5,000 concerts and performed more than 600 works, including some 100 premieres. Its discography includes recordings of more than 100 compositions. They have received three Grammy awards for their recordings.
Mr. Mann has composed more than 30 works for narrator with various instruments that he performs with his wife, the actress Lucy Rowan; several have been recorded on the Musical Heritage label. He has also composed an Orchestral Fantasy performed by Dimitri Mitropoulos
with the New York Philharmonic, the Vienna Philharmonic, and at the Salzburg Festival
; a Duo for Violin and Piano premiered at Carnegie Hall by Itzhak Perlman
and Samuel Sanders; and a string quartet included in the repertoires of both the La Salle and the Concord
string quartets. Other works include a Duo for Cello and Piano written for Joel Krosnick
and Gilbert Kalish
, a Concerto for Orchestra, and "Lament" for two solo violas and orchestra.
Robert Mann's solo discography includes Béla Bartók
's Solo Violin Sonata, the Sonata No. 1 for violin and piano, and Contrasts; Beethoven
's complete violin sonatas (with pianist Stephen Hough
); many of Mozart's violin sonatas, with pianist Yefim Bronfman
; and Elliott Carter
's Duo for Violin and Piano, with Christopher Oldfather.
Mr. Mann has conducted throughout his professional career; he led the Boston Symphony Orchestra in a Peter Bartók recording of Béla Bartók's Piano Concerto No. 1. He made his public debut as a conductor with the Seattle Symphony during the 1988-89 season, and conducted the Jupiter Symphony, a musical group, the following season in New York City.
As a mentor to younger generations of string musicians, Mr. Mann has worked intensively with the Alexander, American, Concord, Emerson, New World, Mendelssohn, Tokyo, Brentano, Lark, and St. Lawrence strings quartets, as well as with members of the Cleveland String Quartet and other ensembles. In recent years, he has expanded his teaching to include violin majors at the Juilliard School. Among his students are Juliette Kang, who recently won the Indianapolis International Violin Competition, and Mark Steinberg, the first violinist of the Brentano String Quartet.
Founder and first artistic director of the Ravinia Stean's Institute for Young Artists at Chicago's Ravinia Festival, Mr. Mann has also served as chairman of the Chamber Music Panel of the National Endowment for the Arts. He is currently a member of the Board of Directors of the New York Philharmonic
, and president of the Walter W. Naumburg Foundation. In 1990, Mr. Mann was honored as the recipient of the Chamber Music America Service Award and the annual award of the American String Teachers Association. He has received honorary doctorates from the Manhattan School of Music
, Oberlin College
, Michigan State University
, Earlham College
, Jacksonville University
, and the San Francisco Conservatory of Music
.
Mr. Mann's son, Nicholas, a violinist and violist with whom Mr. Mann often plays duo recitals, is a founding member of the Mendelssohn String Quartet. His daughter, Lisa Mann, is a psychologist
In recognition of his contributions to the arts, Robert Mann was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
in April 1996.
He was a founding member and first violin
Violin
The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
ist of the Juilliard String Quartet
Juilliard String Quartet
The Juilliard String Quartet is a classical music string quartet founded in 1946 at the Juilliard School in New York. The original members were violinists Robert Mann and Robert Koff, violist Raphael Hillyer, and cellist Arthur Winograd; Current members are Joseph Lin and Ronald Copes violinists,...
for 52 years, and mentor to younger generations of string musicians.
Born in Portland, Oregon
Portland, Oregon
Portland is a city located in the Pacific Northwest, near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2010 Census, it had a population of 583,776, making it the 29th most populous city in the United States...
, Mann began his study of the violin at age nine; at 13, he was accepted into the class of Edouard Hurlimann, concertmaster of the Portland Symphony. In 1938, he moved to New York City to enroll in the Juilliard School
Juilliard School
The Juilliard School, located at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York City, United States, is a performing arts conservatory which was established in 1905...
, where he studied violin with Edouard Dethier
Edouard Dethier
Edouard Charles Louis Dethier was a Belgian classical violinist and teacher of the violin. He was a soloist with the New York Philharmonic and New York Symphony orchestras as well as extensively touring the United States and Canada as a recitalist. From 1906, he also taught violin at the Juilliard...
, composition with Bernard Wagenaar
Bernard Wagenaar
Bernard Wagenaar was a Dutch/American composer, conductor and violinist.Wagenaar, not related to the Dutch composer Johan Wagenaar, was born in Arnhem. He studied at Utrecht University before starting his career as a teacher and conductor in 1914. He moved to the USA in 1920, where he became a...
and Stefan Wolpe
Stefan Wolpe
Stefan Wolpe was a German-born composer.-Life:Wolpe was born in Berlin. He attended the Klindworth-Scharwenka Conservatory from the age of fourteen, and the Berlin Hochschule für Musik in 1920-1921. He studied composition under Franz Schreker and was also a pupil of Ferruccio Busoni...
, and conducting with Edgar Schenkman. Mr. Mann won the prestigious Naumburg Competition
Walter W. Naumburg Foundation
The Walter W. Naumburg Foundation sponsors competitions and provides awards for young classical musicians in North America. It was founded in 1925 by Walter Wehle Naumburg, a wealthy amateur cellist and son of noted New York music patron and philanthropist Elkan Naumburg. Elkan Naumburg, owner of...
in 1941 and made his New York debut two days after the attack on Pearl Harbor. Shortly after his graduation from Juilliard, he was drafted into the army.
At the invitation of Juilliard’s president, William Schuman
William Schuman
William Howard Schuman was an American composer and music administrator.-Life:Born in Manhattan in New York City to Samuel and Rachel Schuman, Schuman was named after the twenty-seventh U.S. president, William Howard Taft, although his family preferred to call him Bill...
, Robert Mann founded the Juilliard String Quartet
Juilliard String Quartet
The Juilliard String Quartet is a classical music string quartet founded in 1946 at the Juilliard School in New York. The original members were violinists Robert Mann and Robert Koff, violist Raphael Hillyer, and cellist Arthur Winograd; Current members are Joseph Lin and Ronald Copes violinists,...
in 1946 and served as the ensemble’s first violinist until his retirement from the quartet in 1997. The quartet, which celebrated its golden jubilee during the 1996–97 season, had played approximately 5,000 concerts and performed more than 600 works, including some 100 premieres. Its discography includes recordings of more than 100 compositions. They have received three Grammy awards for their recordings.
Mr. Mann has composed more than 30 works for narrator with various instruments that he performs with his wife, the actress Lucy Rowan; several have been recorded on the Musical Heritage label. He has also composed an Orchestral Fantasy performed by Dimitri Mitropoulos
Dimitris Mitropoulos
Dimitri Mitropoulos , was a Greek conductor, pianist, and composer. Also known as Dimitris Mitropoulos.-Life and career:Mitropoulos was born in Athens, the son of Yannis and Angeliki Mitropoulos. His father owned a leather goods shop at No. 15, St Marks Street. He was musically precocious,...
with the New York Philharmonic, the Vienna Philharmonic, and at the Salzburg Festival
Salzburg Festival
The Salzburg Festival is a prominent festival of music and drama established in 1920. It is held each summer within the Austrian town of Salzburg, the birthplace of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart...
; a Duo for Violin and Piano premiered at Carnegie Hall by Itzhak Perlman
Itzhak Perlman
Itzhak Perlman is an Israeli-born violinist, conductor, and instructor of master classes. He is regarded as one of the pre-eminent violinists of the 20th and early-21st centuries.-Early life:...
and Samuel Sanders; and a string quartet included in the repertoires of both the La Salle and the Concord
Concord String Quartet
The Concord String Quartet was an American string quartet established in 1971. The members of the quartet were Mark Sokol and Andrew Jennings, violins; John Kochánowski, viola; Norman Fischer, cello. They gave their last regular concert on May 15, 1987...
string quartets. Other works include a Duo for Cello and Piano written for Joel Krosnick
Joel Krosnick
Joel Krosnick is an American soloist, cellist, recitalist, and chamber musician who has performed all over the world for over thirty-five years...
and Gilbert Kalish
Gilbert Kalish
Gilbert Kalish is an American pianist.He was born in New York and studied with Leonard Shure, Julius Hereford and Isabelle Vengerova. He was a founding member of the Contemporary Chamber Ensemble, a pioneering new music group that flourished during the 1960s and '70s...
, a Concerto for Orchestra, and "Lament" for two solo violas and orchestra.
Robert Mann's solo discography includes Béla Bartók
Béla Bartók
Béla Viktor János Bartók was a Hungarian composer and pianist. He is considered one of the most important composers of the 20th century and is regarded, along with Liszt, as Hungary's greatest composer...
's Solo Violin Sonata, the Sonata No. 1 for violin and piano, and Contrasts; Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven was a German composer and pianist. A crucial figure in the transition between the Classical and Romantic eras in Western art music, he remains one of the most famous and influential composers of all time.Born in Bonn, then the capital of the Electorate of Cologne and part of...
's complete violin sonatas (with pianist Stephen Hough
Stephen Hough
Stephen Andrew Gill Hough is a British-born classical pianist, composer and writer. He became an Australian citizen in 2005 and thus has dual nationality .-Biography:...
); many of Mozart's violin sonatas, with pianist Yefim Bronfman
Yefim Bronfman
Yefim "Fima" Naumovich Bronfman is a Soviet-born Israeli-American pianist.-Biography:He was born in Tashkent, Uzbek SSR, and emigrated to Israel at the age of 15...
; and Elliott Carter
Elliott Carter
Elliott Cook Carter, Jr. is a two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning American composer born and living in New York City. He studied with Nadia Boulanger in Paris in the 1930s, and then returned to the United States. After a neoclassical phase, he went on to write atonal, rhythmically complex music...
's Duo for Violin and Piano, with Christopher Oldfather.
Mr. Mann has conducted throughout his professional career; he led the Boston Symphony Orchestra in a Peter Bartók recording of Béla Bartók's Piano Concerto No. 1. He made his public debut as a conductor with the Seattle Symphony during the 1988-89 season, and conducted the Jupiter Symphony, a musical group, the following season in New York City.
As a mentor to younger generations of string musicians, Mr. Mann has worked intensively with the Alexander, American, Concord, Emerson, New World, Mendelssohn, Tokyo, Brentano, Lark, and St. Lawrence strings quartets, as well as with members of the Cleveland String Quartet and other ensembles. In recent years, he has expanded his teaching to include violin majors at the Juilliard School. Among his students are Juliette Kang, who recently won the Indianapolis International Violin Competition, and Mark Steinberg, the first violinist of the Brentano String Quartet.
Founder and first artistic director of the Ravinia Stean's Institute for Young Artists at Chicago's Ravinia Festival, Mr. Mann has also served as chairman of the Chamber Music Panel of the National Endowment for the Arts. He is currently a member of the Board of Directors of the New York Philharmonic
New York Philharmonic
The New York Philharmonic is a symphony orchestra based in New York City in the United States. It is one of the American orchestras commonly referred to as the "Big Five"...
, and president of the Walter W. Naumburg Foundation. In 1990, Mr. Mann was honored as the recipient of the Chamber Music America Service Award and the annual award of the American String Teachers Association. He has received honorary doctorates from the Manhattan School of Music
Manhattan School of Music
The Manhattan School of Music is a major music conservatory located on the Upper West Side of New York City. The school offers degrees on the bachelors, masters, and doctoral levels in the areas of classical and jazz performance and composition...
, Oberlin College
Oberlin College
Oberlin College is a private liberal arts college in Oberlin, Ohio, noteworthy for having been the first American institution of higher learning to regularly admit female and black students. Connected to the college is the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, the oldest continuously operating...
, Michigan State University
Michigan State University
Michigan State University is a public research university in East Lansing, Michigan, USA. Founded in 1855, it was the pioneer land-grant institution and served as a model for future land-grant colleges in the United States under the 1862 Morrill Act.MSU pioneered the studies of packaging,...
, Earlham College
Earlham College
Earlham College is a liberal arts college in Richmond, Indiana. It was founded in 1847 by Quakers and has approximately 1,200 students.The president is John David Dawson...
, Jacksonville University
Jacksonville University
Jacksonville University is a private university in Jacksonville, Florida, on the banks of the St. Johns River. The school was founded in 1934 as a two year college and was known as Jacksonville Junior College until 1958, when it shifted its focus to four-year university degrees and adopted its...
, and the San Francisco Conservatory of Music
San Francisco Conservatory of Music
San Francisco Conservatory of Music, formerly the California Conservatory of Music, founded in 1917, is a music school, with an enrollment of about 400 students. It was launched by Ada Clement and Lillian Hodgehead in the remodeled home of Lillian's parents on Sacramento Street. It was called the...
.
Mr. Mann's son, Nicholas, a violinist and violist with whom Mr. Mann often plays duo recitals, is a founding member of the Mendelssohn String Quartet. His daughter, Lisa Mann, is a psychologist
In recognition of his contributions to the arts, Robert Mann was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
American Academy of Arts and Sciences
The American Academy of Arts and Sciences is an independent policy research center that conducts multidisciplinary studies of complex and emerging problems. The Academy’s elected members are leaders in the academic disciplines, the arts, business, and public affairs.James Bowdoin, John Adams, and...
in April 1996.