On February 12, 1923, Mel Powell, first dean of the music college at CalArts and an American Pulitzer Prize winner, was born in New York City. Born Melvin Epstein, he grew up in the Bronx as the middle child of Russian Jewish parents with two other siblings. He became a child prodigy, learning to play the piano at age four, ...

On Jan. 26, 1990, ‘Duplicates: A Concerto for Two Pianos and Orchestra’ by Mel Powell—then a leading figure at CalArts premiered with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, marking a major milestone in the composer’s extraordinary, genre-spanning career. Born Melvin D. Epstein on Feb. 12, 1923, in the Bronx to Russian Jewish parents, Powell was a prodigy who began playing piano at ...