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Rhys Chatham

Rhys Chatham
Rhys with trpt17xii08a.jpg
Background information
Born (1952-09-19) September 19, 1952 (age 64)
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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Wikipedia

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