Alan Mallach
Alan Mallach is a pianist, composer and writer who has lived with Robin Gould in Roosevelt since 1983. In his years in Roosevelt, he has served as the Chair of the Planning Board, President of the Fund for Roosevelt, and Secretary of the Roosevelt Arts Project. While pursuing a distinguished career in housing and urban redevelopment as a scholar, advocate and practitioner, he has found time to compose, to practice the piano, and to write two well-received books about Italian opera, Pietro Mascagni and his Operas (2002) and The Autumn of Italian Opera: From Verismo to Modernism 1890-1915 (2007). He also writes short stories, and has honorable mentions in two competitions to his credit.
Born in Pittsburgh PA in 1944, he spent much of his childhood in Israel, where he began his studies of both piano and composition, studying the latter with Paul Ben-Haim, the dean of Israeli composers. On his return to the United States he studied piano with the late Michael Field, who was a famous chef and cookbook writer in the 1960s as well as a superb pianist, and studied theory and composition at Yale University with Richmond Browne and Donald Martino. His performed pieces include Fantasy for violin and chamber orchestra; Trio for piano, viola and clarinet; Fantasy for violin and piano; Songs of the Children of Terezin, for voice and piano; and numerous piano rags. As a pianist, he has performed a varied repertoire ranging from works from the Elizabethan Age to the present, including works by Roosevelt neighbors Laurie Altman, Brad Garton and Mark Zuckerman, enlivened by commentary on the works, the composers, and their times.