Dufallo, Richard (John)

Dufallo, Richard (John), American conductor; b. East Chicago, Ind., Jan. 30,1933; d. Denton, Tex., June 16, 2000. He played clarinet as a youngster; then enrolled at the American Cons, of Music in Chicago. He subsequently studied composition with Foss at the Univ. of Calif., Los Angeles; in 1957 he joined the Improvisation Chamber Ensemble organized by Foss, and showed an exceptional talent for controlled improvisation in the ultramodern manner. He then joined Foss as his assoc. conductor with the Buffalo Phil. (1962–67); also served on the faculty of the State Univ. of N.Y. at Buffalo (1963–67), where he directed its Center of Creative and Performing Arts. He attended a conducting seminar with William Steinberg in N.Y. (1965); Boulez gave him additional instruction in Basel (1969). In 1967 he went to Japan and other Asian countries as asst. tour conductor with the N.Y. Phil. In 1971 he made his European conducting debut in Paris. He served as conductor of the “Mini- Met,” an adjunct to the Metropolitan Opera in N.Y. (1972–74), and was director of the series of new music sponsored by the Juilliard School in N.Y. (1972–79). From 1970 to 1985 he was artistic director of the Aspen Music Festival’s Conference on Con-temporary Music. From 1980 to 1982 he also served as artistic adviser of Het Gelders Orkest in Arnhem, the Netherlands. In 1984–85 he was acting director of the Aspen Inst. Italia in Rome. He appeared as a guest conductor with many orchs. in the U.S. and Europe, securing a reputation as an advocate of contemporary music. He publ. the book Trackings: Composers Speak with Richard Dufallo (N.Y. and Oxford, 1989).

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire