Harold Rosenbaum was born in 1950 in Danville, Pennsylvania. In 1951, his family moved to the Bronx, and then to Flushing, Queens. He began studying piano and singing in choirs at an early age. In addition to his musical talents, he had a childhood love of drawing that briefly saw him consider a career in architecture.[2]
He was especially inspired by The Lion Hunt by Peter Paul Rubens,[2] a famous Baroque painting he meticulously copied by hand.
He attended Flushing High School, graduating in 1967. In the summer before his senior year, he decided to pursue music when he was one of sixteen young singers selected for an intensive summer choral program. Until university, his musical tendencies were towards pop and folk music inspired by the famous folk trio Peter, Paul and Mary and iconic film singer Mario Lanza.
In 1967 he began attending Queens College where he developed a passion for choral music, both classical and contemporary. He was mentored by faculty members Joel Mandelbaum, Saul Novak, Paul Maynard, and others. In 1972 he graduated with a BA in vocal performance. He continued his graduate studies at Queens, earning an MA in choral conducting in 1974 and an honorary doctorate in 2011.
Throughout his career, Rosenbaum has been a patron of aspiring and accomplished American composers, commissioning well over 100 new compositions and bringing obscure works into the public eye. To that end, he founded a recording company, Virtuoso Choral Recordings, to disseminate contemporary American choral works.[6]
Though his primary focuses are NYVS and CNS, he has many other pursuits. He edits two series of choral music for G. Schirmer Inc.[7] and Peermusic Classical.[8]
From 2010 to 2013 he was the artistic director of the Society for Universal Sacred Music, which sponsored a music festival in NYC.[9]
In 2014 he created The Harold Rosenbaum Choral Conducting Institute which sponsors annual multi-day workshops in sites such as Columbia University, Wesleyan University, New York University, Adelphi University, Brandeis University, The University at Utah, and the University at Buffalo.[10]
In 2015 he created "ChoralFest USA – A Celebration of the Diversity of Choral Music in America", an annual marathon concert in NYC designed to showcase talented choral ensembles.
His New York Virtuoso Singers also appeared on the Late Show with David Letterman on Millennium New Year's Eve, performing the finale of Beethoven's 9th Symphony with the Brooklyn Philharmonic.[1]
In 2016, Rosenbaum conducted Roberto Sierra's Missa Latina[14] in a new arrangement he commissioned for choir, soloists, 24 percussion instruments and two pianos.