The IRP is honored to have Professor Robert Dallek, a leading presidential historian recently retired from Harvard University, as the keynote speaker for the year of celebration. Dallek's many books include Franklin D. Roosevelt and American Foreign Policy, 1932-1945, winner of the Bancroft Prize in American history; acclaimed biographies of Harry Truman, John F. Kennedy, and Lyndon Johnson; and Nixon and Kissinger: Partners in Power, a finalist for the 2009 Pulitzer Prize.
The program opens with the premiere of a fanfare composed by David Tcimpidis of Mannes College The New School for Music, commissioned for the occasion by the IRP and performed by Mannes students. A gala reception follows.
This year, The New School celebrates the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Institute for Retired Professionals (IRP) here. The IRP is the pioneer peer learning program for older adults in the United States.
Bio
Robert Dallek
Robert Dallek, born May 16, 1934, is a prominent American historian with a specialism of American Presidents. He is a Professor of History at Boston University and has previously taught at Columbia University, UCLA and Oxford.
He has won the Bancroft Prize and numerous other awards for scholarship and teaching.
David Tcimpidis
David Tcimpidis received his education at the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, the University of Cincinnati, the Mannes College of Music, and Queens College of the City University of New York. A Ford Foundation fellow, he has written in nearly every genre, and his compositions have been performed in the Americas, Europe, and the Orient. He has been published by Carl Fischer, GIA publications and Willis Music. In addition to concert music he has provided scores for WABC, CBS Network Television and the New York Theater.
He has taught at various New York City colleges, and is a longtime member of the Mannes College faculty, where he teaches composition and coordinates the school’s composition activities. As well, he teaches composition every summer at California Summer Music in Sonoma, CA.
He has served on numerous new music panels and is a longtime judge and Trustee for New Music For Young Ensembles. He is also a founding member of the ascendant New York-based composers’ group, Music Under Construction.
Stylistically, Mr. Tcimpidis has sometimes been referred to as a “Neoimpressionist,” because of the evocative colors and effects he employs. His music has received critical acclaim for its “originality and broad appeal.” It often employs impressionistic and allusive elements that have earned praise for their “delicate touches of orchestration,” “subtle and subdued effects of color” and “frank touch(s) of sensuality.” His Symphony at a Time of Peace, which has received frequent performances on the East Coast, has been described as “a promising staple of contemporary music.”