Celebrated Trombonist Jack Schatz Joins the Mannes School of Music Faculty
New York, NY – November 22, 2024 – The Mannes School of Music is thrilled to announce the appointment of Jack Schatz, a distinguished trombonist and educator to its esteemed faculty. Schatz brings a wealth of experience spanning orchestral, operatic, Broadway, and jazz, along with an accomplished career as an educator.
Schatz has performed with premiere ensembles, including the New York Philharmonic and the Metropolitan Opera–where he recorded Wagner’s Ring Cycle–as well as the National Grand Opera, the Houston Opera, and the New Jersey Symphony. On Broadway, Schatz’s credits include Phantom of the Opera, A Chorus Line, The Music Man, Nice Work If You Can Get It, Damn Yankees, Hello, Dolly!, and Side Show, among others. Schatz played and toured with the Big Bands of Bob Mintzer, Tom Pierson, Louie Bellson, and Bobby Watson. He has recorded with The Ed Palermo Big Band, James Moody, Alan Pasqua, and Ted Nash.
“I have known Jack for over 40 years,” says Richard Kessler, Executive Dean of the College of Performing Arts and Dean of Mannes School of Music. “He’s a dear friend and remarkable bass trombonist, who can navigate his way around almost any kind of music without missing a beat. Jack is a dedicated and devoted educator. Any student would be lucky to study with him and we are all thrilled to have him join the Mannes faculty.”
“I am honored to be joining the esteemed faculty of the Mannes School of Music,” says Schatz. “One of my first trombone teachers was Simon Karasick, who was a personal friend of David Mannes. In 1954 David Mannes brought on Simon Karasick at Mannes to replace Gordon Pulis and serve as professor of trombone and chair of the Brass Department. I feel that I have come full circle by joining the faculty!”
In joining the brass faculty at Mannes, Schatz will provide mentorship to a new generation of musicians, guiding them in technical mastery, creative expression and the practical realities of a professional music career.
The College of Performing Arts at The New School was formed in 2015 and draws together the Mannes School of Music, the School of Jazz and Contemporary Music, and the School of Drama. With each school contributing its unique culture of creative excellence, the College of Performing Arts is a hub for vigorous training, cross-disciplinary collaboration, bold experimentation, innovative education, and world-class performances.
The 1,000 students at the College of Performing Arts are actors, performers, writers, improvisers, creative technologists, entrepreneurs, composers, arts managers, and multidisciplinary artists who believe in the transformative power of the arts for all people. Students and faculty collaborate with colleagues across The New School in a wide array of disciplines, from the visual arts and fashion design, to the social sciences, public policy, advocacy, and more.
The curriculum at the College of Performing Arts is dynamic, inclusive, and responsive to the changing arts and culture landscape. New degrees and coursework, like the new graduate degrees for Performer-Composers and Artist Entrepreneurs are designed to challenge highly skilled artists to experiment, innovate, and engage with the past, present, and future of their artforms. New York City’s Greenwich Village provides the backdrop for the College of Performing Arts, which is housed at Arnhold Hall on West 13th Street and the historic Westbeth Artists Community on Bank Street.
Founded in 1916 by America’s first great violin recitalist and noted educator, David Mannes, and pianist and educator Clara Damrosch Mannes, the Mannes School of Music is a standard-bearer for foundational excellence and radically progressive music education, dedicated to supporting the development of creative and socially engaged artists. Through its undergraduate, graduate, and professional studies programs, Mannes offers a curriculum as imaginative as it is rigorous, taught by a world-class faculty and visiting artists. Distinguished Mannes alumni include the 20th-century songwriting legend Burt Bacharach, the great pianists Michel Camilo, Richard Goode, Murray Perahia, and Bill Evans, acclaimed conductors Semyon Bychkov, Myung-Whun Chung, JoAnn Falletta, and Julius Rudel, beloved mezzo-soprano Frederica von Stade, as well as the great opera stars of today, Yonghoon Lee, Danielle de Niese, and Nadine Sierra. As part of The New School’s College of Performing Arts, together with the School of Jazz and Contemporary Music and the School of Drama, Mannes makes its home on The New School’s Greenwich Village campus in a state-of-the-art facility at the newly renovated Arnhold Hall.