Howard Shanet

Howard Shanet (9 November 1918 - 19 June 2006) was a conductor, as well as a music professor at Columbia University. He was born in Brooklyn, and started his musical career as a cellist, gaining a Bachelor's degree from Columbia in 1939 and a Master's in Musicology in 1941.

After military service in World War II he studied musical composition with Bohuslav Martinů and Aaron Copland and conducting with Serge Koussevitzky and Fritz Stiedry. During the early-1950s he was conducting assistant to Leonard Bernstein at the New York Symphony. In 1953 he joined Columbia's faculty as Professor of Music, rising to become chairman of its music department from 1972–1978. In later years he was appointed a professor emeritus.

As a visiting conductor he appeared with several major US orchestras, including the New York Philharmonic and the Boston Symphony Orchestra. He composed music for orchestra, string quartet and band (see [http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/22/arts/music/22shanet.html?ex=1308628800&en=348eba1a1e622386&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss] ).

He was the husband of noted neurophysiologist Bernice Grafstein Shanet.

Publications

In 1956, Shanet wrote a music textbook "Learn To Read Music". He wrote "Philharmonic: A History of New York's Orchestra" in 1975 and wrote an introduction and historical notes to a compilation of early works on the history of the orchestra called "Early Histories of the New York Philharmonic". [http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/22/arts/music/22shanet.html?ex=1308628800&en=348eba1a1e622386&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss]

References

* [http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/22/arts/music/22shanet.html?ex=1308628800&en=348eba1a1e622386&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss "New York Times", "Howard Shanet, 87, a Conductor and Composer Dies" 22 June 2006 accessed 25 June 2006]