Robert DiDomenica was born on March 4, 1927 in New York City. He started composing while in the Navy during World War II. He later studied composition with Josef Schmid (a pupil of Alban Berg), flute with Harold Bennett, and received his B.S. from New York University. Active as one of New York's most prominent flutists during the 1950s and '60s, DiDomenica performed with such diverse organizations as the New York Philharmonic, the New York City Opera, Symphony of the Air, Modern Jazz Quartet, Twentieth Century Innovations, Music of Our Time, and in over a dozen Broadway shows.
Robert DiDomenica was born on March 4, 1927 in New York City. He started composing while in the Navy during World War II. He later studied composition with Josef Schmid (a pupil of Alban Berg), flute with Harold Bennett, and received his B.S. from New York University. Active as one of New York's most prominent flutists during the 1950s and '60s, DiDomenica performed with such diverse organizations as the New York Philharmonic, the New York City Opera, Symphony of the Air, Modern Jazz Quartet, Twentieth Century Innovations, Music of Our Time, and in over a dozen Broadway shows.
He has composed 38 works, and his awards include a Guggenheim Fellowship and commissions from the Goethe Institute of Boston, for the Boston Musica Viva, Collage, and the Plymouth Symphony. Recordings include Robert DiDomenica: The Solo Piano Music (GM Recordings), a two record set documenting the piano music of the composer in their world premiere performances by his wife, Leona DiDomenica.
Now retired from teaching, DiDomenica was on the faculties of the Greenwich House Music School and Henry Street Settlement School in the 1950s and '60s, and then on the faculty of the theory and composition department of the New England Conservatory of Music, where he served as Dean from 1976 to 1978. He is presently working on a fifth opera.