Robert Mann

Who is Robert Mann?

Robert Mann is a musician, composer, and conductor.

He was a founding member and first violinist of the Juilliard String Quartet for 52 years, and mentor to younger generations of string musicians. He played and performed on many instruments, including those made by Antonio Stradivari and John Young.

Born in Portland, Oregon, Mann began his study of the violin at age nine; at 13, he was accepted into the class of Edouard Hurlimann, concertmaster of the Portland Symphony. In 1938, he moved to New York City to enroll in the Juilliard School, where he studied violin with Edouard Dethier, composition with Bernard Wagenaar and Stefan Wolpe, and conducting with Edgar Schenkman. Mr. Mann won the prestigious Naumburg Competition in 1941 and made his New York debut two days after the attack on Pearl Harbor. Shortly after his graduation from Juilliard, he was drafted into the army.

At the invitation of Juilliard’s president, William Schuman, Robert Mann founded the Juilliard String Quartet in 1946 and served as the ensemble’s first violinist until his retirement from the quartet in 1997.