Singer, Andre, 1907-

Andre Singer (1907-1996) was born in Hungary. He studied music composition in Vienna at the Academy of Music and Performing Arts (Akademie fuer Musik und Darstellende Kunst in Wien), graduating in 1927. Andre furthered his studies in piano at the Vienna Professional School of Higher Learning of Music and Performing Arts (Fach Hochscule fuer Musik und Darstellende Kunst in Wien) from 1927 through 1931 as a student of Paul Weingarten. In the early 1930s, Singer co-founded the Literatur am Naschmarkt cabaret in Vienna. Under the alias ?́?Otto Andreas,?́₊ Singer composed works for the cabaret which were often censored for their anti-Nazi content. In the mid 1930s, Andre served in the Royal Army of Yugoslavia at the Officer's School in Sarajevo. From 1936 through 1938, he worked in Paris and London as an accompanist and solo pianist. While in Paris, Singer met Lucie Ros, whom he married on August 2, 1938, the day before they immigrated to the United States. Andre and Lucie took up residence in New York, where Andre procured employment as an accompanist and composer. From 1939 through 1942, he worked as the music director of the Chekhov Theatre Studio in Ridgefield, Connecticut. In 1944, Andre was drafted into the U.S. Army and served overseas in Noumea, New Caledonia until his honorable discharge in 1945. In 1946, Andre Singer joined the Sarah Lawrence College music faculty, where he taught until his retirement in 1977. In addition to teaching music theory, composition, and piano at Sarah Lawrence, Singer continued to compose across a wide spectrum of musical forms. Andre Singer died on November 1, 1996.