Teacher

Beyond composing and directing, Antonín Dvořák left an enormous legacy through those he taught at the National Conservatory in New York in his three years there. Dvořák’s students, Henry Burleigh, Will Marion Cook, Rubin Goldmark, Harry Rowe Shelly, and Edwin Franko Goldman, all eventually made meaningful contributions to musical life and literature. They carried the torch of American music to those who would become great American legends. Goldmark taught George Gershwin and instructed Aaron Copland in the fundamentals of counterpoint and composition; Shelly instructed Charles Ives on the organ; and Cook became a pioneer of black musical theater and a mentor to the great jazz composer and performer, Duke Ellington.

Experience the Dvorak Jazz Dances by Charley Gerard performed by Washington Musica Viva at the Kennedy Center Millennium Stage in Washington, DC, at 6 p.m. on October 5, 2011.