TOUR LECTURERS
Brian Mann
Brian Mann, a native of San Francisco, began his undergraduate education as a music major at UC Berkeley, and completed it at Edinburgh University (Scotland). He then returned to UC Berkeley and enrolled in the Department of Music’s graduate program. After completing his Ph.D. in historical musicology (1981), he taught for many years at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, NY, until his retirement in 2021.
Brian’s area of specialization is Italian secular vocal music of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. At Vassar, he served as chair of his department, and as Dean of Freshmen (in the mid-1990s). His teaching responsibilities ranged widely, from courses in the history of Western music and music theory for majors, to non-major offerings in film music and the history of American jazz. He is also a jazz pianist, and over the years has given many jazz concerts at Vassar, performing with a range of established artists from New York. He has traveled widely in Europe—beginning in 1959—and during his years at Vassar accompanied several Vassar Alumni Tours, in both France and Italy. He enjoys sharing his knowledge of French and Italian music, as well as his love of French and Italian history and culture more broadly.
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Our Tour Lecturers
Meet the enrichment lecturers who accompany many of our tours and offer fascinating educational details to take your vacation to the next level.