Rhys Chatham
| Rhys Chatham | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Background information | |
| Born | September 19, 1952 |
| Origin | New York City, New York, U.S. |
| Genres | Minimalism, No wave, experimental rock |
| Occupation(s) | Composer, guitarist, music theorist, trumpeter |
| Instruments | Electric guitar, trumpet |
| Years active | 1971–present |
| Labels | Northern Spy Records Nonesuch Records Moers Musc Dossier Records NTone/ Ninja Tune Table of the Elements Wire Editions |
| Associated acts |
Tony Conrad Eliane Radigue La Monte Young Band of Susans Martin Wheeler |
| Website | www.rhyschatham.net |
| Notable instruments | |
| Electric guitar, amplified trumpet | |
Rhys Chatham (born September 19, 1952) is an American composer, guitarist, trumpet player, multi-instrumentalist (flutes in C, alto and bass, keyboard), primarily active in avant-garde and minimalist music. He is best known for his "guitar orchestra" compositions. He has lived in France since 1987.
Chatham began his musical career as a piano tuner for avant-garde pioneer La Monte Young as well as harpsichord tuner for Gustav Leonhardt, Rosalyn Tureck and Glenn Gould. He studied flute under Sue Ann Kahn, with whom he first encountered contemporary music, and studied soon afterwards under electronic music pioneer Morton Subotnick and minimalist icon La Monte Young and was a member of Young's group, The Theater of Eternal Music, during the early seventies; Chatham also played with Tony Conrad in an early version of Conrad's group, The Dream Syndicate. In 1971, while still in his teens, Chatham became the first music director at the experimental art space The Kitchen in lower Manhattan. His early works, such as Two Gongs (1971) owed a significant debt to Young and other minimalists.
His concert productions included experimenters Maryanne Amacher, Robert Ashley, Philip Glass, Meredith Monk, Pauline Oliveros, Steve Reich, and early alternative rockers such as Fred Frith, Robert Fripp, Arto Lindsay, and John Lurie. He has worked closely with visual artist/musician Robert Longo, particularly in the 1980s, and on an experimental opera called XS: The Opera Opus (1984-6) with the visual artist Joseph Nechvatal.
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