Biographical Note
Randolph S. Rothschild (1909-2003) was a champion of new music. Toward this end, he was involved in the commissioning of an unusually large number of new musical works through his presidency of the Chamber Music Society of Baltimore from 1954 to 1993 and his membership on the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra board from the 1960s when Peter Herman Adler was the music director through the directorships of Sergiu Comissiona and David Zinman.
Rothschild studied piano at the Peabody Preparatory division of the Peabody Institute with Nellie Wilder Coolidge Robinson from age eight until eighteen. Afterwards, he attended Johns Hopkins University for two years where he became a jazz pianist for the Blue Jay Student Jazz Orchestra. He finished his undergraduate degree in economics at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School, then began his law degree at the University of Pennsylvania. He returned to Baltimore during the depression, where he completed his law degree at the University of Maryland. In 1936, Rothschild joined the Sun Life Insurance Company of America, which was founded in 1890 by his father Solomon and uncle Moses Rothschild. When the company was sold in 1972, he retired from the posts of vice president and general counsel.
Rothschild's involvement in Baltimore's musical life continued throughout his insurance career. From 1954 to 1993 he served as president of the Chamber Music Society of Baltimore, which was co-founded in 1949 by Hugo Weisgall and Richard Goodman. Rothschild served on the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra board and the committee that suggested contemporary composers for new commissions. Beginning in 1978, he served on the Peabody Institute board and later became a member of the Advisory Council. He made generous gifts to Peabody as part of their major campaign in 1980 and endowed the composition department to champion new music through the Randolph S. Rothschild Fund, which supports scholarships, a visiting professorship for guest composers, and the printing and recording of specially selected student compositions. In 1992, the Peabody Institute awarded him the George Peabody Medal for "outstanding contributions to music in America."
Rothschild and his wife Amalie frequently invited composers to stay at their home during their visits to Baltimore. The Rothschilds also hosted musical performances. In the late 1940s, he set up a professional recording studio in his home which had the capacity to cut LPs and 16-inch transcription discs; he later switched to open-reel and cassette recordings. He recorded not only the performances at his home, but also recorded off-the-air performances of world premieres and first performances of newly commissioned works.
Rothschild was also well known as a micromineralogist and longtime editor of the International Directory of Micromounters. He cut and mounted more than 7,000 crystals which require a microscope to view.