Ives was the son of a Civil War army bandleader whose musical experimentations came at the expense of his family’s financial well-being. Although the younger Ives shared his father’s musical interests, he pursued a business career after graduating from Yale (B in music, D+ in everything else). Always an innovator, his pioneering work in the insurance industry paved the way for modern estate planning and earned Ives a great deal of money. All the while, Ives continued to compose in his free time culminating, in 1922, in the publication of his 144 Songs. Among his groundbreaking compositions are Central Parkin the Dark, The Unanswered Question and Three Places in New England. Ives was largely ignored during his lifetime and rarely heard much of his work performed. However, the appreciation of his oeuvre that began in the 1930s continued to grow with the help of such admirers as Arnold Schoenberg, Lou Harrison and, later, Michael Tilson Thomas.