Mario di Bonaventura papers and music scores

Mario di Bonaventura (1924-2017) is a distinguished American conductor, composer, music educator, music publisher and arts administrator. He is the brother of acclaimed American concert pianist and teacher, Anthony di Bonaventura (1929-2012) and violinist, teacher and music critic Sam di Bonaventura (1921-1998). He studied composition with Nadia Boulanger (1947-1953) who became the godmother of his son Lorenzo, and with whom he remained close friends throughout his life. He studied conducting at the Salzburg Mozarteum and with Igor Markevitch and piano accompaniment at the Paris Conservatoire. Among his many awards, he won the Lili Boulanger Memorial Prize for composition in 1953.

Mario di Bonaventura championed new music throughout his illustrious career and commissioned many new works by leading composers. He appeared frequently as a guest conductor before ensembles across the United States, Europe and Russia. He served as director of the Ft. Lauderdale Symphony Orchestra (1959-1962) where he commissioned Darius Milhaud’s ninth symphony and premiered it in 1960. He left Ft. Lauderdale to teach at Dartmouth College (1962-1974) where he served as the first music director for the Hopkins Center for the Arts and founded the Music Programs for the Congregation of the Arts at Dartmouth (1963-1970). The Dartmouth program featured composer residencies, commissioned works and world-premieres from prominent twentieth-century composers. He went on to serve as vice-president and director of publications at G. Schirmer/ Associated Music Publishers in New York (1974-1979) and briefly served as the director of the Boston University School of Music (1980-1982) where his brother, Anthony (1929-2012) had long taught.