Martin Halpern was appointed to the English faculty of the University of California at Berkeley where, except for a year in Rome on a Howard Foundation writing fellowship (1962-63), he taught until 1964. Then, after a one-year appointment to the English faculty of the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, he joined the Theater Arts faculty at Brandeis University, where he taught playwriting and dramatic literature for 29 years and chaired the department for seven of those years. During his teaching years, Halpern was a widely published poet and critic of literature and drama, and a widely produced playwright with several awards to his credit. He also continued musical pursuits. On his retirement from the Brandeis faculty in 1994, these became full-time pursuits as he embarked on a second career as a composer.
Martin Halpern
Studios
MacDowell
Martin Halpern worked in the MacDowell studio.
Built in 1912, Pine Studio was renamed MacDowell Studio in 1943 in recognition of support from a group of Edward MacDowell’s music students. It was built as a composers’ studio and the stuccoed walls were intended to be soundproof. Like many of the studios on property, MacDowell was winterized in the 1950s when the program began welcoming…