Thursday (3/29) on the WQXR site, Brian Wise reports, “Manhattan School of Music president Robert Sirota announced Wednesday he will step down this fall in order to devote more time to composing. ‘For almost my entire professional career, I have divided my time between two vocations: school administrator and composer,’ said Sirota in a statement. ‘Running music schools has been extremely rewarding, but it is now time for me to focus my energies on doing what I became a musician for in the first place.’ Sirota’s music has been increasingly heard around New York. His Triptych (2009) was performed as part of the Trinity Church’s commemoration of the 10th anniversary of 9/11 in September, and his opera Holy Women was performed a month later at Corpus Christi Church. His 1988 chamber opera The Clever Mistress is to be performed in April at Symphony Space. Sirota, 62, has been credited with raising the profile of the Manhattan School at 122nd St. and Broadway as it sought to escape the large shadow of the Juilliard School, 50 blocks to its south. He has built new programs in contemporary music and entrepreneurship, created a summer voice institute, purchased new Steinway pianos, and overseen the final stages of the school’s facility expansion. … He will remain a ‘special advisor’ as the school searches for a successor.”
Photo by Brian Hatton
Posted March 30, 2012
