William Schuman (1910-1992) was born in the Bronx in New York City. He was both a composer and a music administrator. He took up his first teaching post in 1935 and, in 1945, became president of the Juilliard School of Music in New York, where he founded the Juilliard String Quartet. He held the position until 1961 when he became the first president of the newly-opened Lincoln Center. Among Schuman's works are no fewer than ten symphonies, several ballet scores, two operas, a piano concerto and this very exciting violin concerto.The Serenade is, effectively, a five-movement violin concerto that Bernstein wrote in 1954. It is based on Plato's Symposium. The symposium was an ancient Greek drinking party at which the male guests would debate.