Broadcaster and Classical Music Writer Robert Sherman To Conduct a Career Seminar for Oberlin Conservatory Students Story by Marci Janas '91 Photo by Steve J. Sherman '81
			Robert Sherman, host of The McGraw Hill Companies' Young Artists Showcase on WQXR, the classical music radio station of The New York Times, will conduct a free and free-wheeling career seminar for Oberlin Conservatory students on Friday, October 11, at noon in Bibbins Hall, Room 223. He will also serve as the nonfaculty adjudicator for the Oberlin Concerto Competition, which will be held Saturday, October 12. On Friday, Sherman will present an abbreviated version of a course he teaches at Juilliard titled The Business of Music, but those attending should be forewarned: he will not pontificate. His presentation will be as much discussion as lecture; students should plan to arrive with plenty of questions about what it takes to succeed in the world of professional music. "It's not enough for a vocalist to sing beautifully or for a musician to play beautifully," he says. "A lot of what counts towards a successful career is dependent upon the artist being personally involved with the nonperforming aspects of the business - crafting a resume and a bio, writing a thank-you note - not upon winning a part or a competition." Sherman knows whereof he speaks. Besides presiding over Young Artists Showcase and teaching at Juilliard, he has, since their inception, hosted the Avery Fisher Career Grant Award presentations and the annual Martin Luther King, Jr., birthday specials from the Harlem School of the Arts. He also teaches Radio: How it Works at Fordham University, is a member of the faculty of the Manhattan School of Music, and has presented seminars at Yale, the Eastman School of Music, the Harid Conservatory, and the Mannes College of Music, where he serves on the board of directors, and at the New York Piano Competition. A former music critic for The New York Times, Sherman continues to write music columns for the Westchester and Connecticut sections of the paper. He has published two books with Victor Borge, is the coauthor of The Complete Idiot's Guide to Classical Music, and with his brother, Alexander Sherman, has compiled a pictorial biography of their mother, the renowned pianist Nadia Reisenberg. Sherman is the father of two sons, both of whom graduated from Oberlin: photographer Steve J. Sherman '81, and Peter Sherman '86, a professor of biology at Arizona International College of the University of Arizona. His nephew David Sherman is another Oberlin graduate, class of 1978.
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