Early life Mann was born and raised in
Portland, Oregon. His father worked as a
tailor and a
grocer. Mann began his study of the violin at age nine; at 13, he was accepted into the class of Edouard Hurlimann,
concertmaster of the Portland Symphony. He attended the
Portland Youth Philharmonic, but had planned to become a
forest ranger in his youth. From 1999-2001, he conducted at the Naumburg Orchestral Concerts, in the Naumburg Bandshell, Central Park, in the summer series.
Other work As a mentor to younger generations of string musicians, Mann worked intensively with the
Alexander, American,
Concord,
Emerson,
New World, Mendelssohn,
Tokyo, Brentano, Lark, and
St. Lawrence strings quartets, as well as with members of the
Cleveland String Quartet and other ensembles. In later years, he expanded his teaching to include violin majors at the Juilliard School. Among his students were
Juliette Kang, who won the
Indianapolis International Violin Competition in 1994, and Mark Steinberg, the first violinist of the
Brentano String Quartet. Founder and first artistic director of the Ravinia Stean's Institute for Young Artists at Chicago's
Ravinia Festival, Mann also served as chairman of the Chamber Music Panel of the
National Endowment for the Arts. He was a member of the board of directors of the
New York Philharmonic, and president of the
Walter W. Naumburg Foundation. In 1990, Mann was honored as the recipient of the Chamber Music America Service Award and the annual award of the American String Teachers Association. He received honorary doctorates from the
Manhattan School of Music,
Oberlin College,
Michigan State University,
Earlham College,
Jacksonville University, and the
San Francisco Conservatory of Music. Mann's son, Nicholas, a violinist and violist with whom the senior Mann often played duo recitals, is a founding member of the Mendelssohn String Quartet. His daughter, Lisa Mann Marotta, is a psychologist. Aerospace and biomedical engineering entrepreneur
Alfred E. Mann was his brother. In recognition of his contributions to the arts, Robert Mann was elected a Fellow of the
American Academy of Arts and Sciences in April 1996. Mann died on January 1, 2018. ==References==