about the composer

Peter Mennin (1923-1983) is known as one of the great symphonic composers of the United States. He focused primarily on large, abstract works for orchestra and chorus, completing little more than 30 works in his lifetime. Mennin's works bear an influence of Renaissance polyphony and exhibit a contrapuntal energy unique to the composer's style.

Born in Erie, Pennsylvania, Mennin started composing when he was seven years old; at eleven he had already become interested in symphonic forms. His formal training began with Normand Lockwood at Oberlin Conservatory of Music in Ohio but was cut short by service in the US Army Air Force during World War II. Mennin resumed his studies in 1943 with Howard Hanson and Bernard Rogers at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York. Upon graduating in 1947, he joined the faculty of the Juilliard School of Music in New York City. That same year his Symphony No. 3 (1946) was premiered by the New York Philharmonic, and subsequently received a number of performances by orchestras in the US and Europe.

Mennin had a distinguished career as an arts administrator. He directed the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore, Maryland from 1958 to 1962, then returned to the Juilliard School to serve as its president until his death in 1983. During his tenure there, the longest in the school's history, Mennin oversaw its move to Lincoln Center in 1969 and established its American Opera Center, Conductors' Training Program, Contemporary Music Festival, Playwrights Program, and Theater Center. In addition to his work at Juilliard, Mennin was president and chairman of the National Music Council and served on numerous private and governmental music committees.

Mennin's music was commissioned and performed by orchestras throughout the United States; he also received awards and commissions from the Coolidge, Ford, Guggenheim, Koussevitzky, and Naumburg Foundations, League of Composers, National Endowment for the Arts, and the first Gershwin Memorial Award in 1945 for his Symphony No. 2 (1944). His music is recorded on many labels including Albany, Citadel, CRI, Delos, First Edition, Klavier, Phoenix, Mercury, New World, and Vox Box.