Won the Pulitzer Prize in Music in 1952 for his "Symphony Concertante".
Studied the violin at the Eastman School of Music and was the soloist
at the premiere of his First Violin Concerto in Chicago in 1938.
Left his teaching position in 1940 to take a job with NBC Radio as a
composer for radio dramas.
Born into a musical family. His mother was a concert singer who had
studied with the fabled Ernestine Schumann-Heink. His family formed a
chamber music ensemble that toured the U.S. Midwest during the period
1930-1937.