Marta Casals Istomin

Currently President of Manhattan School of Music, Marta Casals Istomin assumed the Presidency of the School on July 1, 1992. Born in Puerto Rico, she is an internationally known figure in the arts. Mrs. Istomin is former Directeur Général, Recontres Musicales d'Evian Festival International (France, 1990‑1997); as well as a past member of the National Council on the Arts (USA). From 1980 to 1990, she was Artistic Director of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts (Washington, DC). During her 16‑year marriage to the legendary cellist, Pablo Casals, she became a major force for the development of fine music in Puerto Rico, helping the Maestro to establish the Casals Festival, the Puerto Rico Symphony Orchestra, and the Conservatory of Music. For five years after his death, she was co‑Chairman of the Board and Music Director of the Casals Festival Organization and was instrumental in translating many ideas into new programs. She taught cello at the Conservatory of Music in Puerto Rico and was visiting cello professor at the Curtis Institute (Philadelphia).

The governments of Spain, France, Germany and Catalonia have decorated Mrs. Istomin with their highest civilian honors for her achievements in the arts. She is the recipient of several honorary doctorates and has been awarded numerous distinctions throughout the United States, Europe and Latin America.

Marta Istomin (Marta Montañez Martinez) was born in Humacao, Puerto Rico to a family of amateur musicians. After grammar school studies and her first music studies in violin and cello in Puerto Rico, she was awarded a scholarship to study cello at New York's Mannes School of Music. At the same time she was an honor student at Marymount High School, also in New York City. She was married to Pablo Casals from 1957 to 1973, and to the internationally eminent American pianist, Eugene Istomin from 1975 ‑2003.

Marta Casals Istomin

President

Manhattan School of Music

New York, NY (July 1992 to present)

Marta Casals Istomin, an active figure in the arts, concurrently serves as a consultant to various venues in the world of music. As President of Manhattan School of Music, Mrs. Istomin, who also acts as artistic director, assists in fund raising and oversees all departments of the School. She leads a faculty of approximately 300 and a staff of 80, including direction and approval of all matters from daily maintenance of the building to presentation of concerts and operas, academic requirements and music curriculum for all students. She oversees contracting of all visiting artists, consulting directors and designers, as well as the ongoing development of the School's innovative Distance Learning program.

Former administrative positions and experience

Directeur General, Recontres Musicales d'Evian Festival International, France (October 1990‑1997). Responsible for artistic programming, presenting symphonic, vocal, chamber music, opera, and ballet; contracting artists, devising programs, maintaining budget, and supervising publicity and marketing. Oversight of budget and artistic policies of the biennial Evian International String Quartet competition.

Major accomplishments at Evian included the establishment of master classes in connection with the festival by visiting artists and others (1992) and expansion of the scope of the Festival to include choral music, requiring the building of a new concert hall.

Artistic Director, The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Washington, DC (1980‑1990). Responsible for the artistic policies and programming for music, opera, and dance, she focused on presenting American artists of distinction while maintaining a balance in programming international artists and companies. Her significant accomplishments at the Center included:

Founder, The Kennedy Center's Terrace Concerts, a respected chamber music series presenting a wide variety of instrumental combinations, recitals, vocal music, chamber ensembles, and jazz as well as evenings devoted entirely to the music of living American composers. She inspired and implemented the funding of the Fortas Fund for Chamber Music in the Terrace Theater. The Terrace Concerts inspired two offshoot series, the first in Richmond, Virginia, and the second in Atlanta, Georgia, and she acted as artistic director for both series, which ran concurrently with the Terrace Concerts at the Kennedy Center. All these concert series still exist.

She established the largest and most comprehensive ballet series in the United States, encompassing leading American and international companies, as well as a strong contemporary dance series. She initiated, during the winter of 1989, a project to commission ballets for six leading American dance companies from six American choreographers, to be danced first at the Center and later by all or any of the companies involved, sharing the costumes, sets, and other production materials.

She secured the exclusive American engagement for the Center of Deutsche Oper Berlin for its highly acclaimed June 1989 presentation of Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen.

Mrs. Istomin also made major efforts to present young artists of great promise and include them in various of the Center's programs.

Co‑Chairman of the Board and Music Director, Festival Casals, Puerto Rico (1973‑1979)

Visiting Cello Professor, The Curtis Institute of Music, Philadelphia, PA (1973‑1975)

Vice President, Pablo Casals Foundation and Museum, Barcelona, Spain (1973‑present)

Founder (with Pablo Casals), The Casals Festival and The Puerto Rico Symphony Orchestra (both 1957) and The Puerto Rico Conservatory of Music (1959). During her 16‑year marriage to Pablo Casals, she became a major force for the development of fine music in Puerto Rico, encouraging and helping him to establish the musical institutions listed above. In 1973, after the Maestro's death, she established a string program for young children, which, in 23 years, has produced most of the string players for the Puerto Rico Symphony Orchestra.

Other Highlights of Marta Casals Istomin's Career

Marta Casals Istomin, who is fluent in English, French, Spanish, and Catalan, and has a working knowledge of Italian and German, has served numerous United States and world arts forums. Some of them:

Member, National Arts Council of the National Endowment for the Arts (1990‑1998, appointed by the President of the United States)

As a current spokesperson for Manhattan School of Music, and in the past for the Casals Festival, the Kennedy Center, and Rencontres Musicales d'Evian Festival International, she has communicated and negotiated with various boards, artists, educational institutions, heads of governments, and heads of state.

Internationally she has participated as spokesperson and in discussions as:

• A member of the first cultural delegation to the Republic of China (1980)

• A member of the US Advisory on Culture for UNESCO in Mexico City and Paris (1980s)

• A delegate to the World Arts Forum in Geneva, Switzerland (both in 1989 and 1990)

• Keynote speaker, Chamber Music America Convention in NYC (1981‑84)

• Keynote speaker, for the International Society of Performing Arts Administrators

Honored with six honorary doctoral degrees, Marta Casals Istomin has delivered commencement speeches at five universities. A role model for women in the arts, she has been a particular beacon for Puerto Rican and Latin women as attested to by her list of awards.

Member, Board of Trustees, Marlboro Music School and Festival (since 1973)

For service and bringing recognition in the United States to the arts and artists of other countries, she has been decorated with the highest cultural honors given by the governments of Spain, France, Catalonia and the Federal Republic of Germany.

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