Background
Oppenheim, David Jerome was born on April 13, 1922 in Detroit, Michigan, United States. Son of Louis and Julia (Nurko) Oppenheim.
Oppenheim, David Jerome was born on April 13, 1922 in Detroit, Michigan, United States. Son of Louis and Julia (Nurko) Oppenheim.
Student, Julliard School Music, 1940. Bachelor of Music, University Rochester, 1943.
Oppenheim directed the Masterworks division of Columbia Records from 1950 to 1959. In the 1960s, he worked for the television production company Robert Saudek Associates and worked as a writer and producer for Columbia Broadcasting System from 1962 to 1967. Dean of the New York University School of the Arts (New York University) from 1969 to 1991, in 1985, he was the principal architect of the Tisch School of the Arts.
Oppenheim was born in Detroit in 1922 to Louis Oppenheim and Julia Nurko Oppenheim.
His father owned a department store. He had one sibling, a brother, Stanley.
At the age of 13, upon the death of his father, he and his family relocated to New York City, where he spent most of his life. He attended Juilliard and graduated from the Eastman School of Music in 1943.
During World World War II he served as an anti-tank gunner.
David Diamond"s Quintet for clarinet, 2 violas and 2 cellos (1950) was written for Oppenheim and was first performed in 1952. Throughout the 1950s, Oppenheim directed the Masterworks division of Columbia Records, a position he held until 1959. He recorded Leonard Bernstein"s Clarinet Sonata, overseen by Aaron Copland.
Other recordings include the Brahms Clarinet Trio, Operation
114 with Casals and Eugene Istomin at the 1955 Prades Festival, and both the Brahms Clarinet Quintet, Operation 115, and the Mozart Clarinet Quintet, K. 581, with the Budapest String Quartet in 1959.
Also in 1955, he worked with Stravinsky who conducted his "Story of a Soldier". In the 1960s, he worked for the television production company under Robert Saudek, and helped produce Leonard Bernstein and the New York Philharmonic.
He produced the Omnibus television series, and worked as a writer and producer for Columbia Broadcasting System from 1962 until 1967.
Oppenheim became the second dean of the New York University School of the Arts, serving from February 1969 to 1991. Under his tenure, the school expanded from four departments to 16 and enrollment climbed from 600 to 3,000 students. In 1985 he obtained a $7.5 million grant from the Tisch brothers, Laurence and Preston, which helped centralize the school in one location, a 12-story building at 721 Broadway.
Oppenheim was the principal architect on the renovation project
Board of directors emeritus Film Society Lincoln Center, Inc., Town Hall Foundation. Board directors American Stefan Wolpe Society. Board advisors New School Concerts.
With Army of the United States, World World War II, European Theatre of Operations. Member National Society Literature and Arts, International Council Fine Arts Deans, New York.State Arts Deans, Town Hall Foundation, New York University Society of Fellows (charter), American Federation Arts (film program).
Married Judy Holliday, 1948 (divorced 1957). 1 child, Jonathan; Married Ellen Adler, April 14, 1957 (divorced 1976). Children: Sara, Thomas.
Married Patricia Jaffe, June 13, 1987.