John Harold Kander was born on March 18,1927 and is an American composer, known largely for his work in the musical theater.
13 Facts About John Kander
2.
John Kander, the second son of Harold and Bernice Kander, was born on March 18,1927, in Kansas City, Missouri.
3.
John Kander has stated that he grew up in a loving, middle-class Jewish family and maintained a lifelong close relationship with his older brother, Edward, who became a sales manager at a brokerage house in the city.
4.
John Kander's first composition was a Christmas carol, written during second-grade mathematics class; his teacher's encouragement led to the school choir singing it for a holiday assembly.
5.
John Kander attended his first opera performances at the age of nine, when the San Carlo Opera came to Kansas City with their productions of Aida and Madama Butterfly.
6.
John Kander attended Westport High School before transferring to the Pembroke Country-Day School.
7.
John Kander graduated with a degree in music at Oberlin College in 1951 and went on to graduate studies at Columbia University, where he was a protege of Douglas Moore and studied composition with Jack Beeson and Otto Luening.
8.
John Kander earned his master's degree from Columbia University in 1953.
9.
John Kander's first produced musical was A Family Affair in 1962, written with James and William Goldman.
10.
John Kander says that Harvey Schmidt and Tom Jones, the writers of The Fantasticks, wrote a musical of Wilder's Our Town and it took them thirteen years to write, only to have the rights pulled as well by the nephew.
11.
In 2010, John Kander married dancer and choreographer Albert Stephenson, his partner since 1977, in Toronto.
12.
John Kander, like Ebb, is a member of the American Theater Hall of Fame, having been inducted in 1991.
13.
In 2018, John Kander was awarded the Stephen Sondheim award by Tony-winning Signature Theater.