Robert Starer

ROBERT STARER (b. Vienna, Austria in 1924; d. Kingston, NY, USA 2001) entered the Austria State Academy of Music at the age of 13. Soon after Hitler's annexation of that country, he went to Jerusalem and continued his studies at the Palestine Conservatoire. During World War II, he served with the Royal British Air Force. In 1947, he came to New York for post-graduate study at the Juilliard School and also studied with Aaron Copland at Tanglewood in 1948. He became an American citizen in 1957. He taught at Juilliard from 1949 to 1974 and at Brooklyn College and the Graduate Center of the City University of New York from 1963 to 1991. He was named a Distinguished Professor in 1986. Among his honors are two Guggenheim Fellowships and grants from the National Endowment and the Ford Foundation. He was elected a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 1994, awarded the Medal of Honor for Science and Art by the President of Austria in 1995, an Honorary Doctorate by the State University of New York in 1996 and a Presidential Citation by the National Federation of Music Clubs in 1997.  Starer had over 75 of his compositions published in his lifetime by several respected houses throughout the world. His works spanned from operas to ballets and many orchestral and instrumental pieces. He was also the author of two books on rhythm that are widely used by music students still in use today.