Nat Shilkret

Nat Shilkret was one of the mainstays of the RCA Victor company in its early days, as an executive and as a conductor, and it is as a musician that he has managed to remain a subject of reviews and articles in the 21st century. Born Nathaniel Sch++ldkraut to an Austrian-Jewish immigrant family in Queens, NY, in 1895 (some sources say 1899), Shilkret showed remarkable musical ability as a child, first taking up the violin and the clarinet before age five. He studied piano with Charles Hambitzer, who also taught George Gershwin, and was a good enough musician so that he never ha...