Staff Profiles<\/a><\/p>\n[\/et_pb_accordion_item][\/et_pb_accordion][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”2_3″ _builder_version=”4.4.8″][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/www.qc.cuny.edu\/communications\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/21\/2020\/06\/H_Rosenbaum_Landing1.jpg” _builder_version=”4.9.10″ _module_preset=”default” alt=”Award-winning choral conductor and Queens College alum Harold Rosenbaum made his mark as a 23-year-old leading his first choral group in performance at Carnegie Hall.” title_text=”Harold Rosenbaum” sticky_enabled=”0″ align=”center” border_width_all=”1px”][\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.9.10″ text_font=”Open Sans||||||||” text_font_size=”16px” hover_enabled=”0″ sticky_enabled=”0″]<\/p>\n
Award-winning choral conductor and Queens College alum Harold Rosenbaum made his mark as a 23-year-old leading his first choral group in performance at Carnegie Hall.\u00a0 The debut of the young maestro received rave reviews in the New York Times.
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While he was associate conductor of a Queens College choir and completing his master\u2019s degree, \u201cI realized I needed to start my own chorus, to have my own instrument,\u201d recalls Harold Rosenbaum \u201972, \u201974 MA. Shortly after graduation, he advertised for amateur singers for his new chamber choir, the Canticum Novum Singers, now entering year 39 of presenting early music and works from other periods. Renting Carnegie Recital Hall for their first concert \u201cwas brazen for a 23-year-old,\u201d he realizes. From that first New York Times rave review in 1973 has risen a crescendo of acclaim.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
With his baton, Rosenbaum leads both renowned soloists and amateurs up dizzying choral heights. Over four decades, he has sounded these high notes: choral conductor with 450-plus world premi\u00e8res and more than 1,500 concerts . . . founder of six choral groups . . . currently associate professor of music at the University of Buffalo . . . faculty member at his alma mater (1972-1998) . . . taught at the Juilliard School . . . namesake of the choral music series of the world\u2019s largest music publisher, G. Schirmer Music . . . longtime organist and choir director at St. Luke\u2019s Episcopal Church in Katonah, New York.<\/div>\n
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Unlike almost any other American choral conductor, Rosenbaum \u201cis not scared stiff of anything offbeat,\u201d notes Allen Brings \u201955, composer, pianist, and QC professor emeritus of music (1963-2002). \u201cHe is limitless in his energy.\u201d<\/div>\n
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Contemporary choral composers\u2014from the sadly neglected to prizewinners\u2014find in Rosenbaum and his New York Virtuoso Singers the finest of friends. This professional chamber choir, which he founded in 1988, is undaunted by their most complex compositions.<\/div>\n
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\u201cMusic was in my blood,\u201d Rosenbaum observes about growing up in Flushing. A pop pianist when he came to campus, \u201cI didn\u2019t know any classical music,\u201d he recalls. \u201cTo say that Queens College was a rigorous course of study is an understatement. I loved every minute of it. It opened up a world of music.\u201d<\/div>\n
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Remaining at QC for a master\u2019s in choral conducting, he organized a prep chorus. No one expected it to give concerts. With ecumenical enthusiasm, the grad student brought together the QC Preparatory Choir, Transfiguration Lutheran Church Choir of Harlem, and Westchester Jewish Choral Society (which he also founded). Not on campus. In Carnegie Hall. And to perform Haydn\u2019s Creation.<\/div>\n
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His bio doesn\u2019t even mention the 75 high school clinics he has given. \u201cI\u2019m very parental. I love passing on wisdom and guidance to the young,\u201d he says warmly. He and his wife, Edie, have two daughters and two grandchildren.<\/div>\n
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In 1983 while studying in London, Rosenbaum went to hear Brahms\u2019s Requiem. Transfixed during the soprano solo about Paradise, he had a vision of their son Joshua\u2019s soul \u201ccarried aloft in a ray of light,\u201d he recalls. \u201cI heard the next morning that he had died. He was my best friend.\u201d Joshua, age 11, had accidentally touched a power line on a Long Island beach. That fall, while directing the Queens College Choir and Orchestra, Rosenbaum somehow got through the same requiem, which he had scheduled to conduct the previous spring. As he movingly stated at Commencement last May, \u201cThough the pain never goes away, the desire to survive with dignity and the need to do good deeds, and to make people happy, in my case through music, drive me forward and sustain me.\u201d<\/div>\n
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Hidden talent: <\/strong>Drawing. Two from his teenage days\u2014of his father, a musician, and a colored pencil copy of Rubens\u2019s The Lion Hunt\u2014hang on his wall.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Favorite books:<\/strong> He would love to re-read childhood favorites: Moby-Dick, Sherlock Holmes, Charles Dickens among them. But mostly, \u201cI devour musical scores.\u201d<\/div>\nFor more information, visit
www.haroldrosenbaum.com<\/a><\/div>\n[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Name: Harold RosenbaumMajor: MusicGraduation Year: \u201972, \u201974 MACompany: Canticum Novum SingersTitle: Founder \u201cTo say that Queens College was a rigorous course of study is an understatement. I loved every minute of it. It opened up a world of music.\u201d- Harold Rosenbaum Student Profiles Alumni Profiles Faculty Profiles Staff ProfilesAward-winning choral conductor and Queens College alum […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"page_category":[],"wf_page_folders":[164,137],"class_list":["post-948","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.qc.cuny.edu\/communications\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/948","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.qc.cuny.edu\/communications\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.qc.cuny.edu\/communications\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.qc.cuny.edu\/communications\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.qc.cuny.edu\/communications\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=948"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.qc.cuny.edu\/communications\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/948\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1793,"href":"https:\/\/www.qc.cuny.edu\/communications\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/948\/revisions\/1793"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.qc.cuny.edu\/communications\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=948"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"page_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.qc.cuny.edu\/communications\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/page_category?post=948"},{"taxonomy":"wf_page_folders","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.qc.cuny.edu\/communications\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wf_page_folders?post=948"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}