Paul Lustig Dunkel (July 22, 1943 – January 14, 2018) was an American

flutist The flute is a family of classical music instrument in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, meaning they make sound by vibrating a column of air. However, unlike woodwind instruments with Reed (instrument), reeds, a fl ...

and conductor. From 1983 to 2008, he served as music director of the

Westchester Philharmonic The Westchester Philharmonic is a professional symphony orchestra based in Westchester County, New York, United States. The orchestra performs in the concert hall of the Performing Arts Center at Purchase College. The orchestra was founded in 19 ...

. He also taught at the

New England Conservatory The New England Conservatory of Music (NEC) is a private music school in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the oldest independent music conservatory in the United States and among the most prestigious in the world. The conservatory is located on Hu ...

, the

Eastman School of Music The Eastman School of Music is the music school of the University of Rochester, a private research university in Rochester, New York. It was established in 1921 by industrialist and philanthropist George Eastman. It offers Bachelor of Music (B.M ...

Queens College, City University of New York Queens College (QC) is a public college in the Queens Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City. It is part of the City University of New York system. Its 80-acre campus is primarily located in Flushing, Queens. It has a student body ...

Vassar College Vassar College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Poughkeepsie, New York, United States. Founded in 1861 by Matthew Vassar, it was the second degree-granting institution of higher education for women in the United States, closely follo ...

, the

University of Connecticut The University of Connecticut (UConn) is a public land-grant research university in Storrs, Connecticut, a village in the town of Mansfield. The primary 4,400-acre (17.8 km2) campus is in Storrs, approximately a half hour's drive from Hart ...

and

State University of New York at Purchase The State University of New York at Purchase (commonly Purchase College or SUNY Purchase) is a public liberal arts college in Purchase, New York. It is one of 13 comprehensive colleges in the State University of New York (SUNY) system. It was fo ...

Biography

Dunkel was born in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, where he spent his early years. His mother, Johanna Lustig, was a

pianist A pianist ( , ) is an individual musician who plays the piano. Since most forms of Western music can make use of the piano, pianists have a wide repertoire and a wide variety of styles to choose from, among them traditional classical music, ja ...

from

Vienna, Austria en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

and his father, Eugene Borisovich Dunkel, was a

scenic designer Scenic may refer to: * Scenic design * Scenic painting * Scenic overlook * Scenic railroad (disambiguation) * Scenic route * Scenic, South Dakota, United States * Scenic (horse), a Thoroughbred racehorse Aviation *Airwave Scenic, an Austrian ...

, born in

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

. Dunkel began studying the piano at the age of eight, and with the encouragement of Marianne Kuranda, his piano teacher, began studying the flute two years later. He studied flute with Robert DiDomenica and William Kincaid, and piano with Lothar Epstein and Anka Bernstein-Landau. He attended

The High School of Music & Art The High School of Music & Art, informally known as "Music & Art" (or "M&A"), was a public specialized high school located at 443-465 West 135th Street in the borough of Manhattan, New York, from 1936 until 1984. In 1961, Music & Art and the High ...

in New York City. He grew up on the upper West Side of Manhattan, where, prior to attending Music & Art, he attended Franklin School, where he was renowned for his skill at playing baseball. In 1966, Dunkel took the silver medal at the Birmingham International Woodwind Festival (UK). (

James Galway Sir James Galway (born 8 December 1939) is an Irish virtuoso flute player from Belfast, nicknamed "The Man with the Golden Flute". He established an international career as a solo flute player. In 2005, he received the Brit Award for Outstan ...

took the gold.) In 1978, he co-founded and picked the players for Dennis Russell Davies's American Composers Orchestra. He acted as both manager and principal flute, later a resident conductor. As music director of the Westchester Philharmonic, Dunkel developed a reputation for presenting new works and promoting new artists. In honor of his 15th year with the orchestra, a composition by

Melinda Wagner Melinda Jane Wagner (born 1957 in Philadelphia) is a US composer, and winner of the 1999 Pulitzer Prize in music. Her undergraduate degree is from Hamilton College. She received her graduates degrees from University of Chicago and University of P ...

was commissioned. '' Concerto for Flute, Strings, and Percussion'' was subsequently awarded a

Pulitzer Prize The Pulitzer Prize () is an award for achievements in newspaper, magazine, online journalism, literature, and musical composition within the United States. It was established in 1917 by provisions in the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made h ...

in 1999. Dunkel and the orchestra were the recipients of the 2000 Leonard Bernstein Award for Educational Programming from the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) and the American Symphony Orchestra League for excellence and innovation in music education. Dunkel concluded his Westchester Philharmonic tenure after the 2007–2008 season. Dunkel died on January 14, 2018, aged 74.

References

External links

* *
Biography at American Composers Orchestra

'Paul Dunkel, Flute', New York City Ballet Orchestra Musicians page

The Music Sack, page on Paul Lustig Dunkel
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dunkel, Paul Lustig 1943 births 2018 deaths American conductors (music) American male conductors (music) American classical flautists American people of Austrian descent American people of Russian descent Musicians from New York City The High School of Music & Art alumni Place of death missing Classical musicians from New York (state)