Michael Steinberg (1) (1928–2009)

Michael Steinberg was born to a Jewish family in Breslau, Germany (present-day Wrocław, Poland). His parents were Margarethe and Siegfried Steinberg. In 1939, his mother sent 11-year-old Michael alone on a Kindertransport to the UK. She was able to follow him later along with his brother. The family immigrated to the USA in 1943, settling in St. Louis, Missouri. Steinberg earned a degree in musicology from Princeton University, then studied for two years in Italy on a Fulbright Scholarship. He did a two-year stint in Germany with the U.S. Army, then returned to the USA to join the faculty of the Manhattan School of Music in New York City, where he taught music history. Steinberg taught at several colleges in New York and Massachusetts before becoming the music critic for The Boston Globe in 1964. After nearly 12 years with The Globe, he became the program annotator for the Boston Symphony Orchestra. From 1979 to 1989, he worked as publications director and artistic advisor for the San Francisco Symphony. He was also a sought-after program annotator for other orchestras, including the New York Philharmonic and the Minnesota Orchestra, which he served as artistic advisor in the 1990s. He also wrote the liner notes for some landmark recordings, including John Adams's operas "Nixon in China" and "The Death of Klinghoffer." He published several books on classical music, including The Symphony (1995), The Concerto (1998), Choral Masterworks: A Listener's Guide (2005), and For The Love of Music: Invitations to Listening (2006).