Tenor Robert White is recipient of Juilliard's 2008 William Schuman Scholars Chair

As holder of the Schuman Scholars Chair, Mr. White will present "A Life in Song," a free concert/lecture celebrating his long career as a singer, on Wednesday, March 19 at 11 AM in Juilliard's Paul Hall

Juilliard faculty member, tenor Robert White, has been awarded Juilliard’s 2008 William Schuman Scholars Chair, which is presented annually to an artist and educator who has made significant contributions both to the intellectual and artistic life of the Juilliard community. Established in 1998, previous recipients have included Milton Babbitt, Paul Jacobs, the Juilliard String Quartet, Jerome Lowenthal, Lionel Party, and Fred Sherry. Mr. White has performed and recorded a repertoire that ranges from medieval to contemporary music and has championed works by many important American composers. He has had the unique distinction of having sung for six U.S. Presidents – Harry Truman, John F. Kennedy, Jimmy Carter, Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan, and Bill Clinton. He sang for Britain’s Queen Mother and Prince Charles, Monaco’s Royal Family, and Pope John Paul II. He has been a distinguished member of Juilliard’s faculty in the Vocal Arts Department since 1992. 
       
As holder of the 2008 William Schuman Scholars Chair, Mr. White will be giving two presentations. The first, “A Life in Song,” takes place on Wednesday, March 19 at 11 AM in Paul Hall at Juilliard (enter at 144 West 66th Street). This concert/lecture is FREE and open to the public, as are most of Juilliard’s 700 annual events. The second event will take place in November and will be announced in the fall. 
       
The program on Wednesday, March 19 at 11 AM opens with three songs by Mr. White (and pianists Philip Fisher and Benedicte Jourdois) welcoming spring: Schubert’s Frühlingsglaube; Morley’s It was a lover and his lass; and Rodgers’ Younger Than Springtime. Mr. White’s early recordings as “Little Bobby White” follows next and include excerpts from several 1940s radio shows (NBC/CBS) featuring Fred Allen, Bing Crosby, and Arthur Godfrey. Songs by Chausson and Debussy will be performed by Mr. White, and then he will sing songs by his composer friends: Lowell Liebermann, John Corigliano, William Bolcom, John Musto, Eric Ewazen, Samuel Barber, Paul Hindemith, William Schuman, and Ben Moore. The program concludes with several of Mr. White’s favorite recorded excerpts and a BBC-TV video.
       
Tenor Robert White’s artistic versatility continues to be expressed in a vast range of song. He studied with Nadia Boulanger at Fontainebleau and was soloist in Renaissance repertoire with Noah Greenberg’s New York Pro Musica. He went on to sing with Leonard Bernstein and the New York Philharmonic, as well as with the Monte Carlo Opera and many other orchestras. He has recorded with colleagues Yo-Yo Ma, Samuel Sanders, Placido Domingo, William Bolcom, and Graham Johnson in music ranging from Beethoven to Richard Rodgers. Mr. White has premiered works by composers John Corigliano, Gian Carlo Menotti, Sheldon Harnik, Paul Hindemith, and Milton Babbitt. He has appeared in England with flutist James Galway and hosted his own BBC series with orchestra. 
      
As a youngster, Mr. White sang and acted on New York radio with such luminaries as Bing Crosby, Fred Allen, Frank Sinatra, Humphrey Bogart, Beatrice Lillie, and Kate Smith. Recent CDs include Hyperion’s Bird Songs at Eventide with pianist Stephen Hough; Irving Berlin songs and duets in Berlin Lieder with Marilyn Horne and pianist Dick Hyman, plus the RCA/BMG Great Irish Tenors series featuring Robert White, John McCormick, and Frank Patterson. A recent solo CD is entitled Songs of Lowell Liebermann with the composer at the piano. For the inaugural 2006 season of the new concert hall at New York’s Morgan Library, he gave a solo recital in tribute to the life of founder Pierpont Morgan. He is part of a current DVD release by RTE Irish Television on John McCormick’s life story. In the fall of 2007, Mr. White was the subject of a major interview for Chinese television featuring both his Juilliard teaching program an overview of his lifelong singing career. He recently received the September 2007 Award for Artistic Excellence by the Lincoln Center Chamber Music Society. Mr. White is a member of the Directors Council on the New York City Opera. 
       
The William Schuman Scholars Chair, endowed by Juilliard trustee Kenneth S. Davidson and his wife, flutist and educator Marya Martin, was created in 1998 in celebration of the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Literature and Materials of Music Department at Juilliard. The Department was created to help students discover the connections between analysis and performance of music.