Music

A native of Youngstown, Ohio, Erb (1927-2008) experimented with the relationship between traditional instrument sounds and electronic synthesized sound. Erb served as the composer-in-residence at CIM (1966-1981, where he gained national recognition for his works. He also held appointments as composer-in-residence with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra (1968-1969) as well as professor of composition at Indiana University (1975-1976 and 1984-1987). He also served as professor of composition at Southern Methodist University (1981-1984). In 1987 Erb returned to CIM as the Distinguished Professor of Composition, retiring as distinguished professor emeritus in 1996.

A native of Miskilcz, Hungary, Marcel Dick (1898 - 1991) had a multi-faceted career as a violist, professor, conductor, and composer. He performed with the Budapest Philharmonic and Vienna Symphony Orchestra until emigrating to the United States in 1934 due to anti-Semitism. From 1943-1949 he was principal violist for the Cleveland Orchestra, afterward becoming department head of graduate theory and composition at the Cleveland Institute of Music (CIM) until his retirement in 1973. In 1962, Dick received the Cleveland Arts Prize Music Award, and was given an honorary Doctor of Musical Arts from CIM in 1978. He was invited to conduct several orchestras throughout his career including the Longy School Orchestra in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the CIM orchestra, the Shaker Symphony in Shaker Heights, Ohio, and, the Cleveland Orchestra. He taught at the Royal Academy in Budapest, the Municipal School of Music in Vienna, the Black Mountain Music School in North Carolina, Kenyon College, Case Western Reserve University, and Cuyahoga Community College.

Maurice Lawrence Goldman (1910 - 1984) was prominent in Cleveland and Akron, Ohio, as a choral conductor, composer, arranger, performer, music educator, opera director and radio personality in the mid 1930's until his induction into the U.S. Army in 1942. He was honorably discharged and returned to Cleveland to resume several of his pre-war positions and assume such new appointments as director of the nationally broadcast black singing group Wings Over Jerusalem. With the exception of a brief sojourn in Los Angeles, from 1948-1951, Goldman remained in Cleveland where he resumed his multifaceted music career. His cantata "The Golden Door" was performed at the Cleveland Public Hall in 1955 as part of the national Jewish Tercentenary.