New Music from Cal Arts:
James Tenney: Composer and Performer

Ingram Marshall introduces performances and compositions by James Tenney, American composer, pianist and conductor. Tenney, who died in 2006, was the cofounder and director of the New York City based, Tone Roads Ensemble, and was an important member of the avant-garde scene in the 1960s and 70s. Between 1961 and 1964 he was the resident composer at Bell Labs where he became one of the first to experiment with digital synthesis and computer music. Later in his career he focused on composing for acoustic instruments and taught musical composition at CalArts where he influenced a new generation of composers. According to music critic Kyle Gann, when John Cage was asked in 1989 whom he would wish to study with if he were a young man today his answer was “James Tenney”.