In 1916, violinist and conductor David Mannes and pianist Clara Mannes, David’s wife and daughter of conductor Leopold Damrosch, founded the David Mannes Music School, and the two served as its directors for most of its early history. In 1948, after the death of Clara Mannes, David and Clara’s son, Leopold Mannes, became president of the school, and in 1953, the school received a charter as a degree-granting institution and its name was changed to The Mannes College of Music. The position of dean of the school was established in the years after this transition with Shirley Van Brunt serving as dean under president Leopold Mannes.

The organizational structure of Mannes College of Music remained unchanged under successive presidents and deans until the tenure of Charles Kaufman, who was named president of Mannes in 1979 by the newly appointed Board of Governors, following the removal of the previous Mannes board by the New York State Board of Regents. Kaufman negotiated the incorporation of Mannes as a division of The New School in 1989, and he became the dean of Mannes under the president of The New School at the time, Jonathan F. Fanton. Kaufman served as dean until 1995, although he remained a faculty member until retiring in 2002.

Charles Kaufman was succeeded as dean by City College of New York music faculty member Joel Lester, who was appointed in 1995 and installed in January of 1996. Lester served as dean until 2011, and helped establish the Mannes Institute for Advanced Studies in Music Theory. As of 2016, Mannes School of Music, the School of Drama, and the School of Jazz at The New School became divisions of the College of Performing Arts under executive dean Richard Kessler who also serves as dean of the Mannes School of Music as of 2023.

Sources

“College of Performing Arts Faculty: Richard Kessler.” The New School. Accessed January 12, 2022. https://www.newschool.edu/performing-arts/faculty/richard-kessler/.

Course Catalogs. “Mannes College of Music.” College of Performing Arts Course Catalog Collection. 1916-2006. The New School Archives Digital Collections, New York, New York. https://www.nytimes.com/1977/03/25/archives/new-jersey-weekly-rise-stevens-plays-role-of-impresario.html?searchResultPosition=5.

Goldman, Ari L. “Regents Plan Inquiry into a Merger Proposed by Two Schools of Music.” New York Times, March 23, 1979. https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1979/03/23/111085029.html.

“Joel Lester, Dean of New School University’s Mannes College of Music, Elected President of the Society for Music Theory.” The New School, November 6, 2002. Accessed January 12, 2022. https://www.newschool.edu/pressroom/pressreleases/2002/110602_mcm_lester.html

Kleiman, Dena. “State Removes Board of Mannes College.” New York Times, May 25, 1979. https://www.nytimes.com/1979/05/25/archives/state-removes-board-of-mannes-college.html?searchResultPosition=10.

“Leopold Mannes, Pianist, Dies; Inventor Headed Music School.” New York Times, August 12, 1964. https://www.nytimes.com/1964/08/12/archives/leopold-mannes-pianist-dies-inventor-headed-music-school.html.

“Mannes: History.” The New School. Accessed March 31, 2020. https://www.newschool.edu/mannes/history/.

“Regents remove members of Mannes Board of Trustees." American Association of University Professors, Vol. 6 No. 2 (Summer 1979):6

“Remembering Dr. Charles Kaufman.” New School News, March 24, 2016. Accessed January 12, 2022. https://blogs.newschool.edu/news/2016/03/remembering-dr-charles-kaufman/.

Roberts, Sam. “Charles Kaufman, Transformative Leader of Mannes College of Music, Dies at 87.” New York Times, March 22, 2016. https://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/23/nyregion/charles-kaufman-former-mannes-college-of-music-leader-dies-at-87.html.