The Manhattan School of Music has appointed James Gandre president, effective May 6. He succeeds the composer Robert Sirota, who stepped down last fall. Mr. Gandre is currently the provost and executive vice president of Roosevelt University, in Chicago, but he has worked at the Manhattan School before, as dean of enrollment and alumni from 1995 to 2000. He joined Roosevelt University in 2000, and held positions there as interim dean of the College of Education, and dean of the Chicago College of Performing Arts.
Mr. Gandre, 53, was born in Wisconsin and earned a bachelor’s degree in music from Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisc. He took his masters at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, and his doctrate in education and higher education administration at the University of Nebraska, in Lincoln.
As a tenor, Mr. Gandre has performed as a soloist and chorister with the London Classical Players, the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam, the Israel Philharmonic and other international ensembles.
