Henry Mancini was opened as a division of the Lincoln Park Performing Arts Center. The Center is located in Midland, Pennsylvania, minutes away from Mancini's hometown of Aliquippa. The Henry Mancini Arts Academy is an evening-and-weekend performing arts program for children from pre-K to grade 12, with some classes also available for adults. The program includes dance, voice, musical theater, and instrumental lessons. The American Film Institute ranked Mancini's songs "Moon River" in the No. 4 and "Days of Wine and Roses" in No. 39 on their list of the greatest songs and his score for "The Pink Panther" No. 20 on
Henry Mancini In 1945, he participated in the liberation of the Mauthausen-Gusen concentration camp in Austria. Newly discharged, Mancini entered the music industry. Entering 1946, he became a pianist and arranger for the newly re-formed Glenn Miller Orchestra, led by 'Everyman' Tex Beneke. After World War II, Mancini broadened his skills in composition, counterpoint, harmony and orchestration during studies opening with the composers Ernst Krenek and Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco. In 1952, Mancini joined the Universal Pictures music department. During the next six years, he contributed music to over 100 movies, most notably "Creature from the Black Lagoon", "The Creature Walks Among Us", "It