Teitelbaum, Richard (Lowe)

Teitelbaum, Richard (Lowe), innovative American composer and performer; b. N.Y., May 19, 1939. He began classical piano studies at the age of 6, and was later educated at Haverford Coll. in Pa. (B.A., 1960) and Yale Univ. (M.Mus., 1964), studying at the latter with Allen Forte and Mel Powell; also studied with Stockhausen, Ligeti, and Babbitt in Darmstadt (1964), and with Luigi Nono and Goff redo Petrassi on a Fulbright fellowship in Rome (1964-66). In 1966 he returned to Europe with the first Moog synthesizer to appear in Europe. He gave numerous concerts, and in 1967 helped to found the now-legendary live electronic music group Musica Elettronica Viva (MEV), with Frederic Rzewski and Alvin Curran. In 1970 he created the equally pioneering intercultural world music group World Band at Wesleyan Univ., where he conducted special research in ethnomusicology, with emphasis on shakuhachi, Javenese gamelan, and West African drumming. In 1976-77 a Senior Fulbright grant enabled him to travel to Japan, where he studied Gagaku with Masataro Togi and shakuhachi with Katsuya Yokoyama. In 1999 he held residencies at the Bellagio Center (Rockefeller Foundation) and the Liguria Study Center (Bogliasco Foundation). Teitelbaum taught at the Calif. Inst. for the Arts in Valencia, Calif. (1971); he also established the Electronic Music Studio at the Art Inst. of Chicago (1972-73), and from 1973 to 1976 taught at York Univ. in Toronto. In 1984-85 he was a visiting artist in Berlin on a Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst grant, and in 1986 an Asian Cultural Council Grant permitted him six weeks in Japan to realize the vocal composition Iro wa Niedo for 20 Japanese Shingon Buddhist Monks. In 1988 he was in residence at the Mass. Inst. of Technology, then joined the faculty of Bard Coll. in Annandale-on-Hudson, N.Y., where he currently directs its Electronic Music Studios. Teitelbaum has been an acknowledged pioneer in electronic music and multimedia for nearly three decades, combining in his works electronics with classical forms, jazz improvisation, and world music. He has also performed with artists from diverse cultures, including an American tour with Noh flute virtuoso Meisho Tosha, concerts with Indonesian and Thai musicians at the first International Festival of New Arts in Bangkok, and an all-night benefit concert for earthquake victims in Kobe, Japan. In the U.S., he has performed extensively as a soloist and with such artists as saxophonists Anthony Braxton, Steve Lacy, and Lee Konitz, violinist Mark Feldman, guitarists Fred Frith and Derek Bailey, cellist Tom Cora, and pianist Yuji Takahashi; he also collaborated with Nam June Paik on his Video Opera (1993). Among his awards are NEA grants (1976, 1979, 1988, 1997) and grants from the N.Y. State Council on the Arts (1984, 1987, 1995), and his commissions have ranged from the Venice Biennale (1983) and Cologne’s WDR (1985,1990) to Berlin’s Hebbel Theater/Inventionen Festival (1992) and the Woodstock Chamber Orch. (2000).

Works

Intersections for Piano (1963); Music for Flute Alone (1963); The Rose for Voice and Piano (1963); Concerto da Camera for 14 Instruments (1965); Tutto e Perduto for Voice and Instruments (1965); In Tune for Amplified Brainwaves, Heartbeats, Breath, and Moog Synthesizer (1967); High Culture Imports for World Band (1970-71); La Mattina Presto for Tape (1970-71); Tuning for Wind Instruments and Keyboards (1970-71) and Tuning II for Wind Instruments, Piano, Synthesizer, Trumpet, and Percussion (1973); Border Region for Optigan, Voice, Film, Slides, and Tape (1972); A Space for Indeterminate Instrumentation (1974); Hi Kaeshi Hachi Mi Fu for Shakuhachi (1974); Tai Chi Alpha Tala for Tai Chi Performer, Biomedicai Telemetry System, Synthesizer, Mrdangam, and Video Synthesizer (1974); Threshold Music for Soft Instruments and Environmental Sounds (1974); Ghosts for Tape and Bells (1975); Kei-San for Percussion and Synthesizer (1975); Trio for Winds, Piano, and Synthesizer (1975); Valley for Percussion and Tape (1975); Behemoth Dreams for Contrabass Clarinet and Synthesizers (1976; in collaboration with A. Braxton); Crossing for Synthesizers and Winds (1976; in collaboration with A. Braxton); Ranby-oshi for Violin and Synthesizers (1976); Blends for Shakuhachi and 2 Synthesizers (1977); In Memoriam for Synthesizers, Soprano Saxophone, Piano, Trombone, and Trumpet (1977); In Memoriam: H.M. for Piano, Flute, Saxophone, Percussion, and Synthesizers (1977); King William’s Town for Piano, Flute, Saxophone, and Synthesizers (1977); Via Delia Luce for Synthesizer, Vibraphone, Melodica, Soprano Saxophone, Trumpet, Trombone, and Piano (1977); Asparagus, film soundtrack for Synthesizers, Trombone, and Saxophones (1978); Shrine for Synthesizers (1979); Solo for Synthesizers (1979); Is This The Boid? for Film, Vocoder, and Synthesizers (1980); Mirror on the Wall, environmental music for Tape and Outdoor Muzak System (1980); Ode for Voice and Harmonizer (1980); BIT for Synthesizers and Computers (1981; in collaboration with D. Behrman and G. Lewis); Colourless Green Ideas Sleep Furiously for Solo Performers, Synthesizers, and Microcomputer (1981); Duets for Synthesizers and Winds (1981; in collaboration with A. Braxton); Interlude in Prolog for Digital Piano System (1982); In the Accumulate Mode for Digital Piano System (1982); Solo for Pianos for Digital Piano System (1982); Solo for 3 Pianos for Digital Piano System (1982); Digital Piano Music for Digital Piano System (1983); Dramland for Digital Piano System (1983); Frankfurt Cakewalk for Digital Piano System (1983); Reverse Polish Notation for Digital Piano System (1983); Run Some By You for Digital Piano System (1983); Short Shift for Digital Piano System (1983); Digital Music and Jazz Live for Synthesizers and Winds (1984; in collaboration with A. Braxton): Improvisations for 2 Synthesizers and 2 Violins (1984); Concerto Grosso for Winds, Brass, Digital Pianos, and Synthesizers (1985) and Concerto Grosso No. 2 for Piano, Robotic Piano, Trombone, Synthesizers, and Interactive Computer Music Systems (1988; in collaboration with R. Rowe); Digital Keyboard Music for Digital Pianos and Synthesizers (1985); Interlace for Digital Pianos, Trombone, and Synthesizer (1985; in collaboration with G. Lewis); Duet for 2 Pianos and 2 Synthesizers (1986; in collaboration with H. Miyake); Iro Wa Nioedo for 20 Japanese Shingon Buddhist Monks (1986); Trio for Synthesizers, Wind Instruments, and Trombone (1986; in collaboration with A. Braxton and G. Lewis); Agora Nada for Violin, Synthesizers, and Computers (1987; in collaboration with C. Zingaro); Golem I for Synthesizers, Digital Sampler, Computers, and Musicians (1987); Golem Sketches for Violin, Synthesizers, and Computers (1987; in collaboration with C. Zingaro); Golem Studies for Synthesizers, Digital Sampler, Computers, and Musicians (1987); Man Made Ears for Synthesizers, Violin, and Shamisen (1987); The Sea Between for Violin, Synthesizers, and Computers (1987; in collaboration with C. Zingaro); Golemics for Robotic Piano, Amplified Zither, Synthesizers, and Musicians (1988); Golem, interactive opera for Voices, Trombone, Violin, Percussion, Robotic Pianos, and Interactive Video System (1989-94); Melog Xram, radio soundpiece (1990); Intera for Yokobue (Japanese bamboo flute), Western Reeds, and Interactive Computer Music System (1992); The Emperor Walks for Disklavier with synthesizer obbligato (1993); Mountain Dreams, City Scenes for Shakuhachi and Sampler/Synthesizer (1994); Kyotaku/Denshi for Shakuhachi, Sampler/Synthesizer, Computer, Bass, and Drums (1995); Dal Niente for MIDI Piano, Sampler, and Computer (1997); Reibo Universe for Shakuhachi, Computer, and Visual Projections (1998); Seq Transit Parammers for 2 Disklaviers and Interactive Computer System (1998); Concertino for Piano and Chamber Orch. (2000).

—Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire