The High School of Music & Art, informally known as "Music & Art" (or "M&A"), was a

public In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the ''Öffentlichkei ...

specialized high school located at 443-465 West 135th Street in the

borough A borough is an administrative division in various English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely. History In the Middle Ag ...

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

, from 1936 until 1984. In 1961, Music & Art and the

High School of Performing Arts The High School of Performing Arts (informally known as "PA") was a public alternative high school established in 1947 and located at 120 West 46th Street in the borough of Manhattan, New York City, from 1948 to 1984. In 1961, the school was m ...

(est. 1947) were formed into a two-campus high school. The schools fully merged in 1984 into the Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & the Arts. Colloquially known as "The Castle on the Hill," the building that once housed Music & Art is located in the

Hamilton Heights Hamilton Heights is a neighborhood in the northern part of Manhattan in New York City. It is the northernmost part of the West Harlem area, along with Manhattanville and Morningside Heights to its south, and it contains the sub-neighborhood an ...

neighborhood of

Harlem Harlem is a neighborhood in Upper Manhattan, New York City. It is bounded roughly by the Hudson River on the west; the Harlem River and 155th Street (Manhattan), 155th Street on the north; Fifth Avenue on the east; and 110th Street (Manhattan), ...

, in the campus of the

City College of New York The City College of the City University of New York (also known as the City College of New York, or simply City College or CCNY) is a public university within the City University of New York (CUNY) system in New York City. Founded in 1847, Cit ...

across the street from

St. Nicholas Park St. Nicholas Park is a public park in Manhattan, New York City, between the neighborhoods of Harlem, Hamilton Heights and Manhattanville. The nearly park is contained by 141st Street to the north, 128th Street to the south, St. Nicholas Terr ...

. The building now houses the

A. Philip Randolph Campus High School The A. Philip Randolph Campus High School is a four-year public high school in New York City. It is located in Harlem, adjacent to the City College of New York. It occupies a landmark building formerly occupied by The High School of Music & Art ...

, a

magnet school In the U.S. education system, magnet schools are public schools with specialized courses or curricula. "Magnet" refers to how the schools draw students from across the normal boundaries defined by authorities (usually school boards) as school ...

of the

New York City Department of Education The New York City Department of Education (NYCDOE) is the department of the government of New York City that manages the city's public school system. The City School District of the City of New York (or the New York City Public Schools) is t ...

History

New York City Mayor

Fiorello H. LaGuardia Fiorello Henry LaGuardia (; born Fiorello Enrico LaGuardia, ; December 11, 1882September 20, 1947) was an American attorney and politician who represented New York in the House of Representatives and served as the 99th Mayor of New York City from ...

started the high school in 1936, an event he described as "the most hopeful accomplishment" of his administration.Steigman, Benjamin: ''Accent on Talent -- New York's High School of Music & Art.'' Wayne State University Press, 1984 LCCN 64-13873. As the mayor of New York City he wanted to establish a public school in which students could hone their talents in music, art and the performing arts. Music & Art was made up of three departments: Art, Instrumental Music, and Vocal Music. It was a

magnet A magnet is a material or object that produces a magnetic field. This magnetic field is invisible but is responsible for the most notable property of a magnet: a force that pulls on other ferromagnetic materials, such as iron, steel, nickel, ...

school, meant to draw talented students from all boroughs. In 1948, a sister school — the

— was created in an effort to harness students' talents in dance. Future '' Mad'' magazine contributors

Al Jaffee Allan Jaffee (born Abraham Jaffee; March 13, 1921) is an American cartoonist. He is notable for his work in the satirical magazine '' Mad'', including his trademark feature, the ''Mad'' Fold-in. Jaffee was a regular contributor to the magazine ...

Will Elder William Elder (born Wolf William Eisenberg; September 22, 1921 – May 15, 2008) was an American illustrator and comic book artist who worked in numerous areas of commercial art but is best known for a frantically funny cartoon style that helped ...

Harvey Kurtzman Harvey Kurtzman (; October 3, 1924 – February 21, 1993) was an American cartoonist and editor. His best-known work includes writing and editing the parodic comic book '' Mad'' from 1952 until 1956, and writing the ''Little Ann ...

John Severin John Powers Severin (; December 26, 1921 – February 12, 2012) was an American comics artist noted for his distinctive work with EC Comics, primarily on the war comics ''Two-Fisted Tales'' and ''Frontline Combat''; for Marvel Comics, esp ...

, and

Al Feldstein Albert Bernard Feldstein ( ; October 24, 1925 – April 29, 2014) was an American writer, editor, and artist, best known for his work at EC Comics and, from 1956 to 1985, as the editor of the satire, satirical magazine ''Mad (magazine), Mad''. Aft ...

all attended Music & Art together in the 1930s.Mark Evanier, ''Mad Art'', Watson-Guptill Publications, 2002, . Comic book artists

Ross Andru Ross Andru (; born Rostislav Androuchkevitch, June 15, 1927 – November 9, 1993) Part 1: Animation: We Leave the Army", p. 21. In 1948, Andru's first professional work as a comic strip illustrator was drawing layouts for the ''Tarzan (comics), T ...

and Mike Esposito, did as well, though they were slightly younger than Jaffee and the rest.

R. O. Blechman R. O. Blechman (born October 1, 1930) is an American animator, illustrator, children's-book author, graphic novelist and editorial cartoonist whose work has been the subject of retrospectives at the Museum of Modern Art and other institutions. ...

Milton Glaser Milton Glaser (June 26, 1929June 26, 2020) was an American graphic designer. His most notable designs include the I Love New York logo, a 1966 poster for Bob Dylan, and the logos for DC Comics, Stony Brook University and Brooklyn Brewery. In 1954 ...

Ed Sorel Edward Sorel (born Edward Schwartz, 26 March 1929) is an American illustrator, caricaturist, cartoonist, graphic designer and author. His work is known for its storytelling, its left-liberal social commentary, its criticism of reactionary rig ...

,Grimes, William
"Art; The Gripes of Wrath: 25 Years of Edward Sorel"
''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

''. (May 16, 1993). and

Reynold Ruffins Reynold Dash Ruffins (August 5, 1930– July 11, 2021) was an American painter, illustrator, and graphic designer. With Milton Glaser, Edward Sorel, and Seymour Chwast, Ruffins founded Push Pin Studios in 1954. An illustrator of more than twenty ...

— three of the four co-founders of the design firm

Push Pin Studios Push Pin Studios is a graphic design and illustration studio founded by the influential graphic designers Milton Glaser and Seymour Chwast in New York City in 1954. The firm's work, and distinctive illustration style, featuring "bulgy" three-dimen ...

— were M&A students in the 1940s. Other M&A graduates from the 1940s include

Bess Myerson Bess Myerson (July 16, 1924 – December 14, 2014) was an American politician, model and television actress who in 1945 became the first Miss America who was also Jewish. Her achievement, in the aftermath of the Holocaust, was seen as an af ...

Allan Kaprow Allan Kaprow (August 23, 1927 – April 5, 2006) was an American painter, assemblagist and a pioneer in establishing the concepts of performance art. He helped to develop the "Environment" and "Happening" in the late 1950s and 1960s, as well as ...

, and

Hal Linden Hal Linden (born Harold Lipshitz, March 20, 1931) is an American stage and screen actor, television director and musician. Linden began his career as a big band musician and singer in the 1950s. After a stint in the United States Army, he began ...

. Notable graduates from the 1950s included

Gloria Davy Gloria Davy (March 29, 1931, Brooklyn – November 28, 2012, Geneva) was a Swiss soprano of American birth who had an active international career in operas and concerts from the 1950s through the 1980s. A talented spinto soprano, she was widely ...

Diahann Carroll Diahann Carroll (; born Carol Diann Johnson; July 17, 1935 – October 4, 2019) was an American actress, singer, model, and activist. She rose to prominence in some of the earliest major studio films to feature black casts, including ''Car ...

Susan Stamberg Susan Stamberg (born September 7, 1938) is an American radio journalist. Stamberg was co-host of NPR's flagship program ''All Things Considered.'' In that role Stamberg was the first female host of a national news broadcast. She's considered one ...

Billy Dee Williams William December Williams Jr. (born April 6, 1937) is an American actor. He appeared as Lando Calrissian in the ''Star Wars'' franchise, first in the early 1980s for ''The Empire Strikes Back'' (1980) and ''Return of the Jedi'' (1983), and thirt ...

Peter Yarrow Peter Yarrow (born May 31, 1938) is an American singer and songwriter who found fame for being in the 1960s folk trio Peter, Paul and Mary. Yarrow co-wrote (with Leonard Lipton) one of the group's best known hits, " Puff, the Magic Dragon". H ...

, Tony Roberts,

James Burrows James Edward Burrows (born December 30, 1940), sometimes known as Jim "Jimmy" Burrows, is an American television director who has been working in television since the 1970s.Stated in interview on ''Inside the Actors Studio'' Burrows has direct ...

Erica Jong Erica Jong (née Mann; born March 26, 1942) is an American novelist, satirist, and poet, known particularly for her 1973 novel ''Fear of Flying''. The book became famously controversial for its attitudes towards female sexuality and figured pro ...

, and

Felix Pappalardi Felix A. Pappalardi Jr. (December 30, 1939 – April 17, 1983) was an American music producer, songwriter, vocalist, and bassist. He is best known as the bassist and co-lead vocalist of the band Mountain, whose song "Mississippi Queen" peaked at ...

. Notable M&A graduates from the 1960s include

Peter Hyams Peter Hyams (born July 26, 1943) is an American film director, screenwriter and cinematographer known for directing ''Capricorn One'' (which he also wrote), the 1981 science fiction-thriller ''Outland (film), Outland'', the 1984 science fiction f ...

Steven Bochco Steven Ronald Bochco Masterson (December 16, 1943 – April 1, 2018) was an American television writer and producer. He developed a number of television series, including ''Hill Street Blues'', ''L.A. Law'', ''Doogie Howser, M.D.'', ''Cop Rock'' ...

Robbie Conal Robert "Robbie" Conal (born 1944) is an American guerrilla poster artist noted for his gnarled, grotesque depictions of U.S. political figures of note. A former hippie, he is noted for distributing his poster art throughout a city overnight usi ...

Graham Diamond Graham Diamond (born 18 August 1949, Manchester, England) is an author who writes across multiple genres, including fantasy and science fiction. He has published twenty novels with more than a million copies of his books in print."Low-Key Author ...

Maira Kalman Maira Kalman is an American artist, illustrator, writer, and designer known for her painting and writing about the human condition. She is the author and illustrator of over 30 books for adults and children and her work is exhibited in museums a ...

,Master of the Month: Maira Kalman
from ''IllustrationFriday.com''

Bob Mankoff Robert Mankoff (born May 1, 1944Wilson, Craig. "Top drawer at 'The New Yorker' Mankoff makes his imprint as cartoon editor," ''USA Today'' (2 October 1997): D, 1:2.) is an American cartoonist, editor, and author. He was the cartoon editor for ' ...

,Mankoff, Robert
"Comics: Meet the Artist," (transcript)
''Washington Post'' (November 5, 2004).

Diane Noomin Diane Robin Noomin ( Rosenblatt, May 13, 1947 – September 1, 2022) was an American comics artist associated with the underground comics movement. She is best known for her character DiDi Glitz, who addresses transgressive social issues such as ...

,Noomin profile
, UF Conference on Comics & Graphic Novels 2003: Underground(s)].

University of Florida The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida, traces its origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its ...

. Retrieved on 2008-01-30. and

Margot Adler Margot Susanna Adler (April 16, 1946 – July 28, 2014) was an American author, journalist, lecturer, Wiccan priestess, and New York correspondent for National Public Radio (NPR). Early life Born in Little Rock, Arkansas, Adler grew up mostly ...

; while notable graduates from the 1970s include musicians

Paul Stanley Paul Stanley (born Stanley Bert Eisen; January 20, 1952) is an American musician who is the co-founder, frontman, rhythm guitarist and co-lead vocalist of the hard rock band Kiss. He is the writer or co-writer of many of the band's most popular ...

"Nicki Minaj Forbidden From Meeting Students at Her Old High School: "I Guess I'm Not Good Enough"
''

E! Online E! (an initialism for Entertainment Television) is an American basic cable channel which primarily focuses on pop culture, celebrity focused reality shows, and movies, owned by the NBCUniversal Television and Streaming division of NBCUniversa ...

'', September 14, 2014. and Kenny Washington. Notable M&A grads from the 1980s include writers

Jonathan Lethem Jonathan Allen Lethem (; born February 19, 1964) is an American novelist, essayist, and short story writer. His first novel, ''Gun, with Occasional Music'', a genre work that mixed elements of science fiction and detective fiction, was publishe ...

Reed Tucker
"Fame’s Honor Roll"
''

New York Post The ''New York Post'' (''NY Post'') is a conservative daily tabloid newspaper published in New York City. The ''Post'' also operates NYPost.com, the celebrity gossip site PageSix.com, and the entertainment site Decider.com. It was established ...

'', September 20, 2009. and

Lynn Nottage Lynn Nottage (born November 2, 1964) is an American playwright whose work often focuses on the experience of working-class people, particularly working-class people who are Black. She has received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama twice: in 2009 for he ...

, and hip-hop musician

Slick Rick Richard Martin Lloyd Walters (born January 14, 1965), better known as Slick Rick, is an English-American rapper and record producer. He rose to prominence with Doug E. Fresh & the Get Fresh Crew in the mid-1980s. Their songs " The Show" and " ...

Merger with Performing Arts

As per Mayor LaGuardia's vision, Music & Art and Performing Arts merged on paper in 1961 and were to be combined in one building. However, this took many years and it was not until 1984 that the sister schools were merged into a new school, the Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts, at a new building designed by

Eduardo Catalano Eduardo Fernando Catalano (December 19, 1917 – January 28, 2010) was an Argentine architect. Life and career Born in Buenos Aires, Catalano went to the United States on a scholarship to the University of Pennsylvania and Harvard Graduate ...

in the Lincoln Square area of Manhattan. The

Board of Education A board of education, school committee or school board is the board of directors or board of trustees of a school, local school district or an equivalent institution. The elected council determines the educational policy in a small regional are ...

posthumously honored Mayor LaGuardia by naming the new building after him.

Architectural significance

The 1924

gothic revival Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...

building was designed by

William H. Gompert William H. Gompert (1875 -1946) was the Architect and Superintendent of School Buildings for the New York City Board of Education. According to researcpublished by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission, Gompert was educated at Adelphi ...

, Architect & Superintendent of School Buildings for the New York City Board of Education, to house the New York Training School for Teachers. The Training School became the New York Teachers Training College from 1931 to 1933. That school was abolished during

the Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagion ...

when there was a surplus of teachers for the city's school system, and Mayor LaGuardia used the opportunity to create the High School of Music & Art. Architecturally, the building blends in with the older gothic revival buildings of the City College campus, designed by architect

George B. Post George Browne Post (December 15, 1837 – November 28, 1913) was an American architect trained in the Beaux-Arts tradition. He was recognized as a master of modern American architecture as well as being instrumental in the birth of the skyscra ...

around 1900 to create a setting that came to be known as "the poor man's

Harvard Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

." Music & Art students and graduates often referred to the building as "The Castle on the hill," a reference to the design of its gothic towers, and the decorative gargoyles done in a quirky and playful style that the Landmarks Commission report describes as "finials in the shape of creatures bearing shields." The tower rooms have dramatic acoustics, which Music & Art used as choral practice rooms. The large gymnasium features large Tudor-arch-shaped windows on two sides that at certain times during the day stream sunlight into the room. The auditorium has excellent acoustics, and features diamond-shaped amber windows that during daylight cast a warm glow on its dark wood interior. The iron ends of the auditorium seats have a casting with an image of the Tudor window arches in the gymnasium. The building won status as a landmark by the

New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) is the New York City agency charged with administering the city's Landmarks Preservation Law. The LPC is responsible for protecting New York City's architecturally, historically, and cu ...

in 1997. According to the Landmark Commission report, this was not an expensive building for its time, and many of the structural components (like the staircase bracings in the stairwell) were left exposed to save money. Yet much thought went into humanizing the space and creating a good environment for learning, with plenty of natural light and air, expansive collaborative spaces, and much playful decoration thrown in for good measure:

Notable alumni

: Note: anyone who graduated after 1984 is considered a graduate of

Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts, often referred to simply as LaGuardia, is a public High school (North America), high school specializing in teaching visual arts and performing arts, located near Lincoln Ce ...

, not Music & Art *

(1964), radio journalist *

(c. 1940),Esposito, Mike, in Additional , June 16, 2012. comic book artist *

Eleanor Antin Eleanor Antin (née Fineman; February 27, 1935) is an American performance artist, film-maker, installation artist, conceptual artist and feminist artist. Early life and education Eleanor Fineman was born in the Bronx on February 27, 1935. Her pa ...

(1952), artist *

Louis Abolafia Louis Abolafia (February 23, 1941 – October 30, 1995) was an artist, social activist, and folk figure. His candidacy for president of the United States under the Nudist Party on the Hippie 'Love Ticket' various times in the 1960s and onward was ...

(1958), artist, presidential candidate, and countercultural figure *

Stanley Aronowitz Stanley Aronowitz (January 6, 1933 – August 16, 2021) was a professor of sociology, cultural studies, and urban education at the CUNY Graduate Center. He was also a veteran political activist and cultural critic, an advocate for organized labo ...

, academic and activist *

Ray Billingsley Raymond Curtis Billingsley (born July 25, 1957) is an African American cartoonist, best known for creating the comic strip ''Curtis''. It is distributed by King Features Syndicate and printed in more than 250 newspapers nationwide. Early life B ...

(c. 1974) — cartoonist, creator of the syndicated comic strip ''

Curtis Curtis or Curtiss is a common English given name and surname of Anglo-Norman origin from the Old French ''curteis'' (Modern French ''courtois'') which derived from the Spanish Cortés (of which Cortez is a variation) and the Portuguese and Gali ...

'' *

(c. 1948), animator, illustrator, children's-book author, and cartoonist *

(1961), TV producer & writer *

Frank Bolle Frank W. Bolle (June 23, 1924 – May 12, 2020) was an American comic-strip artist, comic book artist and illustrator, best known as the longtime artist of the newspaper strips ''Winnie Winkle'' and ''The Heart of Juliet Jones''; for stints on th ...

, cartoonist * Steven Brower (1970), designer and author *

(1958), director * Harriet Camen (1946), ceramics artist *

(1953), singer *

Jerome Charyn Jerome Charyn (born May 13, 1937) is an American writer. With nearly 50 published works over a 50-year span, Charyn has a long-standing reputation as an inventive and prolific chronicler of real and imagined American life, writing in multiple ge ...

(1955), novelist *

Kvitka Cisyk Kvitka "Kasey" Cisyk ( uk, Квітка Цісик; Квітослава-Орися Цісик, ''Kvitka Tsisyk''; April 4, 1953 Billy Cobham William Emanuel Cobham Jr. (born May 16, 1944) is a Panamanian Americans, Panamanian–American jazz drummer who came to prominence in the late 1960s and early 1970s with trumpeter Miles Davis and then with the Mahavishnu Orchestra. He was indu ...

(1962), jazz drummer *

Gil Coggins Gilbert Lloyd "Gil" Coggins (August 23, 1924 – February 15, 2004) was an American jazz pianist. Coggins was born to parents of West Indian heritage.

, jazz pianist and composer *

Sal Cuevas Salvador "Sal" Cuevas (1955 – April 9, 2017) was an American salsa bassist known for his association with the Fania All-Stars from 1978 to 1985. Although he also played the upright bass, he was one of the most popular electric bassists in the N ...

(1972), bassist *

Kenny Drew Kenneth Sidney "Kenny" Drew (August 28, 1928 – August 4, 1993) was an American-Danish jazz pianist. Biography Drew was born in New York City, United States, and received piano lessons from the age of five.Feather, Leonard, & Ira Gitler (2 ...

, jazz pianist *

(1961), artist *

(1951), operatic soprano *

(1963), speculative fiction writer *

(1940), cartoonist *

Alvin Epstein Alvin Epstein (May 14, 1925 – December 10, 2018) was an American actor and director. He was a founding member of both the American Repertory Theater and Yale Repertory Theatre. He was particularly admired for his performances in the plays of Samu ...

(1943), actor and director * Mike Esposito (c. 1940), comic book artist *

, cartoonist and editor *

Bela Fleck Bela may refer to: Places Asia *Bela Pratapgarh, a town in Pratapgarh District, Uttar Pradesh, India *Bela, a small village near Bhandara, Maharashtra, India *Bela, another name for the biblical city Zoara * Bela, Dang, in Nepal * Bela, Janakpur, ...

(1976) banjo player * Charles Fox (1958) composer * Peter Freeman, multi-instrumentalist, bassist and music composer *

Gerald Fried Gerald Fried (born February 13, 1928) is an American composer, conductor, and oboist known for his film and television scores. He composed music for well-known television series of the 1960s and 70s, including ''Mission: Impossible'', ''Gilliga ...

, composer, conductor, and oboist *

Dave Gantz David Gantz (December 6, 1922 – December 14, 2007) was an American artist and sculptor who illustrated children's books and worked as a newspaper cartoonist. Biography Gantz graduated from The High School of Music & Art in New York City, the ...

(c. 1939), cartoonist *

Lenora Garfinkel Lenora Garfinkel (1930 – April 29, 2020) was an American architect, specializing in the design and construction of Jewish ritual buildings. Childhood and education Born Lenora Fay Josephy in 1930 in the Bronx, Garfinkel attended the High Scho ...

(1930-2020), architect *

(1947), designer * Andy González (1968), bassist *

Jerry González Jerry González (June 5, 1949 – October 1, 2018) was an American bandleader, trumpeter The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the hig ...

(1967), bandleader, trumpeter *

Christopher Guest Christopher Haden-Guest, 5th Baron Haden-Guest (born February 5, 1948) is an American-British screenwriter, composer, musician, director, actor, and comedian. Guest is most widely known in Hollywood for having written, directed, and starred in ...

(~1966), screenwriter, actor, director, composer *

Charles Gwathmey Charles Gwathmey (June 19, 1938 – August 3, 2009) was an American architect. He was a principal at Gwathmey Siegel & Associates Architects, as well as one of the five architects identified as The New York Five in 1969. Gwathmey was perhaps bes ...

BERNSTEIN, FRED A
"Charles Gwathmey, Architect Loyal to Aesthetics of High Modernism, Dies at 71,"
''New York Times'' (AUG. 4, 2009). (1956), architect *

Larry Harlow (musician) Larry Harlow Kahn (born Lawrence Ira Kahn; March 20, 1939 – August 20, 2021) was an American salsa music performer, composer, and producer. He was born into a musical American family of Jewish descent. Background Summary Harlow was born o ...

(1957), pianist, composer *

(1960), director *

(1940), cartoonist *

(1959), author *

(1967), illustrator, writer, artist, and designer *

Michael Kamen Michael Arnold Kamen (April 15, 1948 – November 18, 2003) was an American composer (especially of film scores), orchestral arranger, orchestral conductor, songwriter, and session musician. Biography Early life Michael Arnold Kamen was born in ...

(1965), composer *

Susan Kamil Susan Laurie Kamil (September 16, 1949 – September 8, 2019) was the publisher (as of 2018) as well as editor-in-chief of the Random House Publishing Group. Career Susan Kamil was born in Manhattan, where she attended the High School of Music & ...

, book editor and publisher *

(1945), painter and performance artist *

Amy A. Kass Amy Judith Kass (née Apfel; September 17, 1940 – August 19, 2015) was an American academic and a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute. She spent most of her career as a professor of classic texts in the College of the University of Chicago. H ...

, educator and anthologist *

Everett Raymond Kinstler Everett Raymond Kinstler (August 5, 1926 – May 26, 2019) was an American artist, whose official portraits include Presidents Gerald Ford and Ronald Reagan.James Howard Kunstler James Howard Kunstler (born October 19, 1948) is an American author, social critic, public speaker, and blogger. He is best known for his books ''The Geography of Nowhere'' (1994), a history of American suburbia and urban development, ''The Long ...

(1966), author, social critic *

(1941), cartoonist, creator of

Mad Magazine Mad, mad, or MAD may refer to: Geography * Mad (village), a village in the Dunajská Streda District of Slovakia * Mád, a village in Hungary * Adolfo Suárez Madrid–Barajas Airport, by IATA airport code * Mad River (disambiguation), several r ...

Paul Lansky Paul Lansky (born June 18, 1944, in New York) is an American composer. Biography Paul Lansky (born 1944) is an American composer. He was educated at Manhattan's High School of Music and Art, Queens College and Princeton University, studying wit ...

(1961), composer *

Michael Lax Michael Lax (1929–1999) was an American industrial designer who created household products for companies such as Copco, Lightolier, Dansk, Salton, Metaal, Mikasa, Tupperware, and American Cyanamid. Several of his best-known products, including ...

(1947), industrial designer *

(1982), author *

Shari Lewis Shari Lewis (born Phyllis Naomi Hurwitz; January 17, 1933 – August 2, 1998) was a Peabody-winning American ventriloquist, puppeteer, children's entertainer, television show host, dancer, singer, actress, author, and symphonic conductor. She wa ...

(née Sonia Phyllis Hurwitz) (c. 1951) actress, puppeteer *

(1948), actor *

(1962), cartoonist and long-time ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...

'' magazine cartoon editor *

Ray Marcano Ray Marcano is an American journalist, music critic, and musician known for his work as a medical reporter, and later a music critic, for the ''Dayton Daily News'' in the 1980s and 1990s. In 2000, he became president of the Society of Professional ...

, medical reporter and music critic *

William A. Moses William A. Moses (1933 – January 3, 2002) was an American real estate developer, founder of the Community Housing Improvement Program, and an advocate against rent control. Biography Moses was born in a Jewish family in Brooklyn, the son of r ...

, real estate developer *

(1941), actress and politician *

(c. 1964), cartoonist *

(1982), playwright *

Laura Nyro Laura Nyro ( ; born Laura Nigro; October 18, 1947 – April 8, 1997) was an American songwriter, singer, and pianist. She achieved critical acclaim with her own recordings, particularly the albums ''Eli and the Thirteenth Confession'' (1968 ...

(née Nigro), (1965), singer/songwriter * Frank J. Oteri (1981), composer and music journalist *

Brock Peters Brock Peters (born George Fisher; July 2, 1927 – August 23, 2005) was an American actor and singer, best known for playing the villainous "Crown" in the 1959 film version of ''Porgy and Bess'', and the wrongfully convicted Tom Robinson in th ...

, actor *

Margaret Ponce Israel Margaret Ponce Israel (also known as Marge Israel) (December 24, 1929 — April 22, 1987) was a painter and ceramicist who lived and worked in New York City. She was born in 1929 in Havana, Cuba, and brought to the U.S. as an infant. She attended ...

painter and ceramist *

Nancy B. Reich Nancy Bassen Reich (July 3, 1924 in New York City - January 31, 2019 in Ossining, NY) was an American musicologist, most renowned for her 1985 biography of Clara Schumann. Biography She attended the High School of Music and Art, where she playe ...

musicologist *

(1983), hip-hop musician *

Joshua Rifkin Joshua Rifkin (born April 22, 1944 in New York) is an American conductor, pianist, and musicologist; he is currently a professor of music at Boston University. As a performer he has recorded music by composers from Antoine Busnois to Silvestre ...

(1961), conductor and musicologist * Tony Roberts (1957), actor *

Arlen Roth Arlen Roth (born October 30, 1952) is an American guitarist, teacher, and author. From 1982 to 1992, he was a columnist for ''Guitar Player'' magazine. Those ten years of columns became a book, ''Hot Guitar''. His father Al Ross (Abraham Roth) ...

(1969) Guitarist, author, singer *

(1948), designer *

Bernard Safran Bernard Safran (June 3, 1924 – October 14, 1995) was an American painter known for his realistic portraits and scenes of everyday life in New York and in rural Canada. He created many portraits for Time magazine covers, with subjects that includ ...

(1939), illustrator, artist *

Ed Seeman Edward Seeman (pseudonym Eduardo Cemano) is an American artist whose works have spanned disparate fields, from award-winning animated television commercials for children to films of artistic nudity and hardcore pornography. He is also known for h ...

cartoonist, cinematographer, photographer, abstract artist, movie director *

(1940), cartoonist *

Jeremy J. Shapiro Jeremy J. Shapiro (born 1940), is an American academic, a professor emeritus at Fielding Graduate University who works in the area of critical social theory with emphasis on the social and cultural effects of information technology and systems, ...

(1957), critical theorist *

Joel Shatzky Joel Shatzky (November 30, 1943 – April 3, 2020) was an American writer and literary professor at the State University of New York. Biography Shatzky, who grew up in the Bronx, attended High School of Music & Art. He studied at Queens Colleg ...

(1943- 2020), writer and literary professor *

Robert Siegel Robert Charles Siegel (born June 26, 1947) is an American retired radio journalist. He was one of the co-hosts of the National Public Radio evening news broadcast ''All Things Considered'' from 1987 until his retirement in January 2018. Early ...

(1957), architect *

(c. 1947), illustrator and cartoonist *

(1955), radio journalist *

(1970), musician *

Jeremy Steig Jeremy Steig (September 23, 1942 – April 13, 2016)Peter Keepnews, "Jeremy ...

(1960), improvising flutist * Daniel Stern (1946), writer, musician *

Steve Stiles Stephen Willis Stiles (July 16, 1943 – January 11, 2020) was an American cartoonist and writer, coming out of the science fiction fanzine tradition. He won the 2016 Hugo Award for Best Fan Artist. Early life and education Steven Willis Stil ...

(c. 1960), cartoonist *

Susan Strasberg Susan Elizabeth Strasberg (May 22, 1938 – January 21, 1999) was an American stage, film, and television actress. Imagined to be the next Hepburn-type ingenue, she was nominated for a Tony Award at age 18, playing the title role in ''The Diary ...

(1956), actress *

Beth Ames Swartz Beth Ames Swartz (born February 5, 1936) is an American visual artist. While primarily an abstract artist, her paintings often incorporate words and symbols representing philosophical concepts shared by people of different cultural world views. Her ...

, artist *

Richard Taruskin Richard Filler Taruskin (April 2, 1945 – July 1, 2022) was an American musicologist and music critic who was among the leading and most prominent music historians of his generation. The breadth of his scrutiny into source material as well as ...

(1961), music historian *

Dave Valentin David Peter Valentin (April 29, 1952 – March 8, 2017) was an American Latin jazz flautist of Puerto Rican descent. Life and career Valentin was born to Puerto Rican parents in The Bronx in New York City. He attended The High School of Music ...

(1969), Latin jazz flutist * Daniel Waitzman (1961), flutist and composer * Kenny Washington (1976), jazz musician *

(1955), actor *

(1955), singer/songwriter *

Sherman Yellen Sherman Yellen (born February 25, 1932, New York City) is an American playwright, screenwriter, and political commentator. Early life and education Sherman Yellen was born in 1932 to Nathan and Lillian Yellen. He attended the High School of Mus ...

(1949) playwright, memoirist *

Kristi Zea Kristina Gwyn Zea (born October 24, 1948) is an American production designer, costume designer, art director, director and producer in film and television. Born and educated in New York City, she discovered she had a talent for design while workin ...

(1966) production designer

References

External links

Website of the Alumni & Friends
of LaGuardia High School of Music & the Arts
1977 New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission Report
on the old High School of Music & Art Building that now houses the A. Philip Randolph Campus High School (pdf-format file).
MyCastleTreasures.com
a tribute to the alumni of the High School of Music and Art {{DEFAULTSORT:High School Of Music and Art, The High School of Music and Art Art schools in New York City Defunct high schools in Manhattan Music schools in New York City Alternative schools in the United States 1936 establishments in New York City * New York City Designated Landmarks in Manhattan