Robert Manno
Encyclopedia
Robert Manno is the composer of numerous chamber and orchestral works, song cycles and solo piano and choral works. The Atlanta Audio Society has called him "a composer of serious music of considerable depth and spiritual beauty." Ned Rorem
has described his music as “maximally personal and expressive” and Fanfare Magazine has said: "his instrumental compositions are shot through with powerful lyrical impulses...Manno’s music, in whatever guise, always sings."
After early instruction in piano and violin, Manno had a brief career as a jazz pianist in Philadelphia, then studied voice with Dolores Ferraro and composition with Romeo Cascarino
. He moved to New York in 1965 studying jazz piano with John Mehegan
and Steve Kuhn
and voice with Cornelius Reid. He later continued his composition studies at the 28th Annual Composers Conference in Johnson, VT with Donald Erb
and Mario Davidovsky
.
Manno has received the Ernest Bloch Award, First Prize at the Delius Festival and many Meet the Composer
Grants and ASCAP Awards. His music has been performed throughout the US, Italy and Wales, UK and has been broadcast on American Public Media’s "Performance Today".
He holds a degree in voice from the Manhattan School of Music and an M.A. in music composition from New York University. He was a member of both the MET Chorus (1977-2001) and NYCO Chorus (1967-77) and appeared as a baritone soloist in recital, chamber music programs, and with the Westchester Symphony and Alvin Ailey Dance Company. After leaving the MET Chorus, he served as an assistant conductor at the MET in 2002 working backstage on Rigoletto and Falstaff (with James Levine and Bryn Terfel).
He and his wife, former MET violinist Magdalena Golczewski, reside in the Northern Catskills where they formed the Windham Chamber Music Festival, a concert series now in its thirteenth season. He is Music Director and Conductor of the Windham Festival Chamber Orchestra and Catskill Mountain Chamber Orchestra.
Ned Rorem
Ned Rorem is a Pulitzer prize-winning American composer and diarist. He is best known and most praised for his song settings.-Life:...
has described his music as “maximally personal and expressive” and Fanfare Magazine has said: "his instrumental compositions are shot through with powerful lyrical impulses...Manno’s music, in whatever guise, always sings."
After early instruction in piano and violin, Manno had a brief career as a jazz pianist in Philadelphia, then studied voice with Dolores Ferraro and composition with Romeo Cascarino
Romeo Cascarino
Romeo Cascarino was an American composer of classical music.His music is generally tonal, and his magnum opus is the opera William Penn, whose life had fascinated Cascarino since childhood...
. He moved to New York in 1965 studying jazz piano with John Mehegan
John Mehegan
John Mehegan was an American jazz pianist, lecturer and critic.Mehegan was born in Wethersfield, Connecticut, and began playing the piano at the age of five. He taught himself to play by matching his fingers to the notes played on a neighborhood player piano. His mother gave him violin lessons,...
and Steve Kuhn
Steve Kuhn
Steve Kuhn is an American jazz pianist, composer and trio leader.-Biography:He began studying piano at the age of five and studied under Boston piano teacher Margaret Chaloff, mother of jazz baritone saxophonist Serge Chaloff, who taught him the "Russian style" of piano playing. At an early age he...
and voice with Cornelius Reid. He later continued his composition studies at the 28th Annual Composers Conference in Johnson, VT with Donald Erb
Donald Erb
Donald Erb was an American composer best known for large orchestral works such as Concerto for Brass and Orchestra and Ritual Observances.-Early years:...
and Mario Davidovsky
Mario Davidovsky
Mario Davidovsky is an Argentine-American composer. Born in Argentina, he emigrated in 1960 to the US, where he lives today...
.
Manno has received the Ernest Bloch Award, First Prize at the Delius Festival and many Meet the Composer
Meet the Composer
Meet the Composer is an American organization founded in 1974 by the composer John Duffy as a project of the New York State Council on the Arts. It seeks to assist composers in making a living through writing music by sponsoring commissioning, residency, education, and audience interaction...
Grants and ASCAP Awards. His music has been performed throughout the US, Italy and Wales, UK and has been broadcast on American Public Media’s "Performance Today".
He holds a degree in voice from the Manhattan School of Music and an M.A. in music composition from New York University. He was a member of both the MET Chorus (1977-2001) and NYCO Chorus (1967-77) and appeared as a baritone soloist in recital, chamber music programs, and with the Westchester Symphony and Alvin Ailey Dance Company. After leaving the MET Chorus, he served as an assistant conductor at the MET in 2002 working backstage on Rigoletto and Falstaff (with James Levine and Bryn Terfel).
He and his wife, former MET violinist Magdalena Golczewski, reside in the Northern Catskills where they formed the Windham Chamber Music Festival, a concert series now in its thirteenth season. He is Music Director and Conductor of the Windham Festival Chamber Orchestra and Catskill Mountain Chamber Orchestra.
External links
- http://www.broadwayworld.com/viewcolumn.cfm?colid=25277
- http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5354854
- http://performancetoday.publicradio.org/?year=2007&month=4&day=3
- http://performancetoday.publicradio.org/?year=2007&month=10&day=30
- http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4959984
- http://recordsinternational.com/archive/RICatalogApr01.html
- http://www.catskillmtn.org/events/special-events/2007-10-06-catskill-mountain-chamber-orchestra-presents.html