Founded in 1916 by violin and piano duo David Mannes and Clara Damrosch Mannes as a community music school, Mannes has grown into a world-class conservatory.
1916
Founding
The David Mannes Music School opens on East 70th Street
1930s-1940s
An Eminent Faculty Gathers
In the '30s and '40s, conductor George Szell, composers Georges Enesco and Bohuslav Martinu, and pupils of theorist Heinrich Schenker teach at Mannes. Leopold Mannes, son of the founders, becomes President. He and Leopold Godowsky, Jr. (son of the famed piano virtouoso) patent Kodachrome film.
1953
A College Flourishes
Mannes starts offering degrees and changes its name to The Mannes College of Music. Felix Salzer organizes Mannes's comprehensive signature curriculum, the Techniques of Music prorgram. Richard Goode, Murray Perahia, and Frederica von Stade graduate in the same class in 1969. Rise Stevens, Sidney Gelber, and John Goldmark serve as President.
1984
President Dr. Charles Kaufman moves Mannes to a new larger home on West 85th Street.
1989
Mannes joins the New School for Social Research, which later becomes The New School.
The Present
Now, Mannes thrives.