She became the first music director of the Dance Theatre of Harlem in 1969, a post she held until 1980. It was there that she was given her first opportunity to conduct. She went on to study conducting with Laszlo Halasz and took part in the conducting program at Tanglewood, coaching with Leonard Bernstein and Seiji Ozawa. In addition to writing for traditional ensembles, Brockman performs on digital synthesizers, and traveled to the former Soviet Union as a guest of the Leningrad Composers Union, where she presented a workshop in MIDI technology and synthesizer programming. A former member of the faculties at the Hartt School of Music, University of Rhode Island, and the University of Connecticut, Brockman now resides in the Los Angeles area, where she earns a living scoring for film.
Character Sketches for solo piano.
She was accepted as the youngest pupil ever at the Stern Conservatory in Berlin at age five. When she was 13, she entered the Royal Academy of Music in Stockholm, and after moving to Mexico City, studied composition with Manuel Ponce. In 1946, her talents came to the attention of Paul Hindemith, who invited her to study composition as a scholarship student at Yale University. Schonthal's works have been performed by the Orchestra Nacional de la Universidad de Mexico, the Israel Philharmonic, New Orchestra of Westchester, Baltimore Women's Symphony, Manhattan Chamber Orchestra, Ridgefield Symphony, and many other groups. A biography with analysis of works has been prepared for publication in Berlin by musicologist Martina Helmig.