Mildred N. Landecker's Home Page

EDUCATION:
Juilliard School of Music while still in high school
New York University, Bachelor of Science at age 18
New York University, Master of Art at age 19
Private voice, piano, and composition studies with famous teachers in their field

MUSICAL ACTIVITIES:
Gave classical music solo piano recitals in Philadelphia, New York City, and Seward, Alaska
Performed in Bach Triple Concerto with Steuben Symphony Orchestra
Gave voice recitals and radio performances in New York City
Did professional accompanying and voice coaching for outstanding performers
Taught voice and piano privately at my Carnegie Hall studio for many years until moving to California
Taught music at the High School of Music and Art in New York City for 35 years until 1975
   Subjects taught: Voice training, choral and orchestral conducting, theory of music, orchestration,
    harmony, art of accompanying, history of music, conductor of mixed chorus, women’s chorus,
    class piano for students with no piano background, music appreciation for art students

Associate Professor of Music, teaching music history and appreciation as well as
opera history at Saddleback College for 30 years from September 1978 to December 2008

Retired from college teaching at age 95, but continues to teach piano privately, assist in recording

sessions, and do voice coaching in and around Orange County, California
Performed classical piano music at opening of Laguna Hills Leisure World Clubhouse Five

Prepared several high school choruses for joint concerts with major orchestras
Public performances as pianist and accompanist for various organizations in Orange County
Performed for League of Women Voters, City of Hope, and opening of Lincoln Savings
Music coordinator/performer of first Saddleback College Emeritus Day Program (October 1980)

OTHER ACTIVITIES:
Assistant examiner for the New York City Board of Examiners
Acted as judge in a choral competition in Lancaster, Pennsylvania
Author of book Creative Music Theory published by Allyn and Bacon, Boston 1972 [see right photo at page top]
Co-author of two books on harmony, Harmony In Action New York 1956.

PDF/CreativeMusicTheory.pdf   PDF/HarmonyInActionBook1.pdf   PDF/HarmonyInActionBook2.pdf for book front covers
     Click here to contact Mildred Landecker for information on how to purchase this book.
Honored for outstanding teaching contribution at Saddleback College (October 1983).
Mentioned five times in book Accent on Talent by Dr. Ben Steigman published by Wayne Univ. Press
Guest lecturer at Laguna Beach Community Center
Guest lecturer several times at Sunday Discussion Group
Presented program at Academia’s Music Unites All People (October 1998)
Arranged for guest speaker Harriet Payne, violinist at Pacific Symphony and personnel manager at
     Pageant of the Masters to speak at two sessions of Landecker’s History of Music Classes (April 1992)
Arranged for guest speaker, Micah Levy, conductor of Orange County Chamber Music Orchestra,
     to speak to my “For the Love of Music” History of Music classes
Grass roots organizer of Leisure World contingency to attend the Long Beach Symphony
Officer of the Globe Twirlers (square dance group) in Laguna Hills

At Laguna Woods, California, studied ceramics, slip casting, swimming, bible as literature, alterations in clothing,

     investments, square, round and ballroom dancing
Chosen as Leisure Worlder of the Month (February 1995) [see left photo at page top]
Named Teacher of the Year by Saddleback College Emeritus Program (January 2001 and April 2008).
     If you would like to a picture of Mildred in cap and gown receiving her award, click here or click here.
     If you would like to an article and photo which appeared in the May 30, 2008 Orange County Register, click here
    Honored by the Board of Trustees, South Orange County Community College District (July 2003)
Taught at Saddleback Valley Unified School District Adult Education Program from 1975 to 1978
There exists a LaGuardia High School Mildred Landecker Choral Music Purchase Endowed Fund.

To see a photo of James Conlon and Mildred Landecker backstage after an LA Opera
    performance he conducted in September 2006, please click here.
    To see a photo of James Conlon and Mildred Landecker backstage after an LA Opera performance
    he conducted in February 2008, please click here. If you would like to see a photo of Los Angeles
    Opera Music Director James Conlon on September 21, 2008 posing
    backstage at Dorothy Chandler Hall, click here or click here.

To see a photo of James Conlon and Mildred backstage after an LA Opera performance

To see a photo of James Conlon and Mildred at the Goethe Center in Los Angeles on

November 29, 2010, click here.
Mildred Landecker was Maestro Conlon's first conducting teacher.

To see two pictures of Mildred on her 97th birthday in July 2010, please click here and here.

To see and hear Mildred playing her Steinway piano in her home on May 15, 2012

She is playing "Music Box", composed by her son Peter when he was 10 years old, and published in

Ten pictures from Mildred's 100th birthday celebration are visible if you click here.

A picture taken at Mildred's 101st birthday celebration is visible below (with her Steinway piano in the background and the Beethoven's Fifth Symphony ceramic she made on the left):

A video of Mildred playing happy 102nd birthday to herself on her Steinway is available if you click on http://youtu.be/oQfBAbRP-dg. A picture of her is shown below.

A picture of Mildred with James Conlon (LA Opera Conductor) was published in LA Opera League Bravo magazine (Fall 2013 edition, page 3). Mildred was his first conducting teacher.

Mildred Landecker's musical education and background cover a broad spectrum of professional and academic activity. Earlier she attended the Juilliard School of Music, and later she received her Bachelor of Science degree at age 18, and her Master of Arts degree at age 19 from New York University. She had concertized as a pianist and a singer before her high school and private teaching engrossed her attention.

For 35 years Mildred Landecker had been a teacher at the High School of Music and Art in New York City where she served as a judge on the Admissions Board. There she taught conducting, music theory and harmony, voice, accompanying, orchestration, choral ensemble, music history, and piano. Concurrently she taught privately at her studio in Carnegie Hall.

Mildred Landecker is the author of three music textbooks. For 30 years at Saddleback College, Emeritus Institute, she taught courses in the history and appreciation of music, Music Fundamentals (theory of music) and the Development of Opera. She retired in December 2008. She now teaches piano and voice privately in Laguna Woods, California. She also is a vocal coach. She loves her students, and she loves to teach!

MILDRED LANDECKER, 1913-2016, Musician, Teacher, Performer, Wife, Mother

Mildred Landecker, 103, passed quietly away in her home on October 8, 2016.

As a young girl she attended the Juilliard School of Music in New York City and then completed both her BS and MA degrees from New York University by the age of 19.

For 35 years she was at the High School of Music and Art in Manhattan where she served as a judge on the Admissions Board and taught conducting, music theory and harmony, voice, accompanying, orchestration, choral ensemble, music history, and piano, while concurrently giving private lessons in her studio at Carnegie Hall and writing 3 music textbooks.

After her first retirement and a move to California, for 30 years she taught courses in music appreciation, theory of music, and development of opera at Saddleback College, Emeritus Institute.

She retired a second time in 2008 at the age of 95 but continued until recently to teach piano and voice privately in Laguna Woods. The first photo on this webpage is from 1995 and commemorates Leisure World’s honoring her as Resident of the Month. Her educator husband of 48 years, Dr. Louis Landecker, died in 1985. She is survived by her son Dr. Peter Landecker, astrophysicist.

There was a Celebration of Life gathering from 2-4 pm on Saturday, October 29 in her home at 3296C San Amadeo, Laguna Woods, CA.

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If you would like to make a gift in her memory, please mail it to:
Alumni and Friends of LaGuardia High School
100 Amsterdam Avenue, Room 853
New York, NY 10023

Mark your check: For the endowed Mildred Landecker Choral Purchase Fund.
This is a Fund she started and significantly added to recently.