HAROLD SHAPERO 1920 - 2013

Harold Samuel Shapero (April 29, 1920 – May 17, 2013) was an American composer. WIKIPEDIA Shapero was one of the first students at Tanglewood following its founding in the 1940s. When Igor Stravinsky was Norton Professor at Harvard in 1940, Shapero showed Stravinsky his Nine-Minute Overture. Shapero hoped to get the Overture played at Tanglewood that summer, but Hindemith ordered that no student compositions would be played that season. Aaron Copland hastily put together an orchestra to play student compositions, including Shapero's Overture. Shapero was awarded the Rome Prize in 1941 for his Nine-Minute Overture, which included a $1000 award. World War II prevented him from taking advantage of the residency in Italy the prize provided (Anon. 1941). At Harvard he held the Naumberg and Paine Fellowships. After graduating in 1941 (Anon. 1946b), Shapero undertook further studies with Nadia Boulanger at the Longy School of Music in 1942–43 (Pollack 2001). While studying with her, Shapero was also in contact with Stravinsky, who was helpful in his critiques of Shapero's music.