New York City, 1925: Sergei Rachmaninoff and George Gershwin are at their pianos composing while Irving Berlin’s Music Box Revue was closing on 45th St; Jazz was the exciting new sound emanating from stylish uptown venues and Victor Talking Machines is releasing the first ever “electric recording” – piano pieces by Chopin and Schubert.
It seems appropriate that in the same year The Great Gadsby was depicting social decline, Aaron Ornstein would found the Associated Music Teacher’s League. It seems appropriate that it is against the background of the roaring twenties that Aaron Ornstein would found the Associated Music Teacher’s League. Ornstein believed the need for an association of professional instructors was needed to establish standards of excellence in musicianship and to ensure that high-quality music appreciation would flourish. Early AMTL patrons included the Damrosch brothers, Thomas Edison, Hollis Dann of New York University, and the Steinway Company, who continues to be a leading benefactor to this very day.
Today’s AMTL counts scores of musicians and teachers among its membership, who volunteer their time and contribute resources to continue the mission chartered nearly a century ago. The AMTL sponsors students and hosts numerous performances throughout the year, including the Winter Musicales at the Choral Recital Hall at Queens College, the Mid- Season Musicales concerts at Christ & Stephen’s Church in Manhattan, the Honors Concert at Steinway Hall, as well as our annual New York Young Performers Prize Competition, among many others.
Presenters also include renowned musicians such as Jerome Lowenthal, Gyorgy Sandor, Karl Ulrich Schnabel, Ned Rorem, Arnold Steinhardt among many others
