Howard Shanet

Howard Shanet (November 9, 1918 – June 19, 2006) was an American conductor, composer, and music educator born in Brooklyn, New York. He began his musical life as a cellist and earned a Bachelor's degree from Columbia University in 1939, followed by a Master's degree in Musicology in 1941. His Broadway career included an appearance in The Cradle Will Rock in 1947.

Following military service in World War II, Shanet pursued advanced study in musical composition under Bohuslav Martinů and Aaron Copland, and in conducting under Serge Koussevitzky and Fritz Stiedry. In the early 1950s he served as conducting assistant to Leonard Bernstein at the New York Philharmonic. He joined Columbia University's faculty as Professor of Music in 1953, eventually serving as chairman of its music department from 1972 to 1978, and was later appointed professor emeritus.

As a visiting conductor, Shanet appeared with major American orchestras including the New York Philharmonic and the Boston Symphony Orchestra. At Columbia he conducted opera productions, among them the world premiere of Carlos Chávez's The Visitors. His compositional output encompassed works for orchestra, string quartet, and band.

Shanet also contributed substantially to music scholarship and education. In 1956 he published the textbook Learn to Read Music. His 1975 book Philharmonic: A History of New York's Orchestra documented the history of that institution, and he also wrote an introduction and historical notes for Early Histories of the New York Philharmonic, a compilation of early writings on the orchestra.

He was married to neurophysiologist Bernice Grafstein Shanet and was the father of film and commercial director Laurence Shanet. Shanet died in Manhattan on June 19, 2006, at the age of 87.