Gene Tyranny

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Blue Gene Tyranny (born January 1, 1945 in San Antonio as Robert Sheff ) is an American pianist and composer who has also emerged as a music author and producer.

Act

As a teenager, Tyranny studied with the pianists Meta Hertwig and Rodney Hoare and the composers Otto Wick and Frank Hughes. With the composer Philip Krumm , he organized events for new music in Texas, including several festivals at the McNay Art Institute , where there were world premieres of works by John Cage , Philip Corner , Richard Maxfield and Yoko Ono . After receiving a BMI Student Composers Award in 1961 , he moved to Ann Arbor. There he performed at the ONCE Festival of New Music , but also worked as a waiter, salesman and statistics coder. Since the 1960s he has interpreted the works of John Cage ( Cheap Imitation and Empty Words ), Peter Gordon , David Behrman ( On the Other Ocean ) and Robert Ashley ( Dust, Celestial Excursions ). He also toured with jazz and rock groups, such as The Prime Movers Blues Band , 1973 with Iggy Pop & The Stooges and 1978 with Carla Bley . From 1971 to 1982 he taught harmony and counterpoint, jazz improvisation and literature, and recording techniques at Mills College in Oakland, California. In November 1976, works by Peter Gordon and himself were presented by an all-star ensemble in a concert series at the University of Berkeley under the motto Trust In Rock (released in 2019). In 1978 he presented his debut album Out of the Blue , which was followed by other albums. In 1983 he moved to New York, from where he worked as a freelance composer and interpreter.

Tyranny has also worked as a studio musician for Laurie Anderson ( Strange Angels ) and as arranger and elaborator of the piano improvisations for Robert Ashley's television opera Perfect Lives ( Channel 4 ). He has created over 40 soundtracks for film and video and worked on projects with video artists Kenn Beckman and Kit Fitzgerald. He also composed for theater productions and dance companies such as the Otrabanda Company . In 1988 he received the Bessie Award for Composition ( NY Dance and Performance Awards ) and in 1989 a Composer Fellowship from the New York Foundation for the Arts . In 1992 he was artist in residence at Bucknell University . He also produced music albums, in addition to works by Robert Ashley and Joseph Kubera's recordings of Cage's Music of Changes .

Tyranny also wrote articles on contemporary music, especially for Allmusic in the 20th Century Avant-Garde section . With Mark Slobin he wrote Music Beyond the Boundaries .

literature

  • Cole Gagne Sonic Transports: New Frontiers in Our Music (DeFalco Books, 1990)
  • Kevin James Holm-Hudsons Music, Text and Image in Robert Ashley's video opera 'Perfect Lives'. (Dissertation University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1992)
  • Cole Gagne Soundpieces 2: Interviews with American Composers (Scarecrow Press, 1993)
  • William Duckworth Talking Music (Schirmer Press, 1995)
  • Kyle Gann American Music in the Twentieth Century (Schirmer Press, 1997)

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Tyranny, Gene
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Tyranny, Blue Gene; Sheff, Robert
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American pianist and composer
DATE OF BIRTH January 1, 1945
PLACE OF BIRTH San Antonio