Richard Lainhart

Richard Lainhart
Richard Lainhart performing
Background information
Birth name	Richard Lainhart
Born	February 14, 1953 South Gate, California
Origin	Berkeley, California
Died	December 30, 2011(2011-12-30) (aged 58) Berkeley, California
Occupation(s)	composer, performer, and filmmaker

Richard Lainhart (February 14, 1953 – December 30, 2011) was an American composer of electronic music that combines analog and digital instrumentation with extended performance techniques derived from traditional acoustic instruments. Lainhart's music is particularly associated with the renaissance of modular analog synthesis, and frequently performed with a Buchla 200e modular synthesizer controlled by a Haken Audio Continuum multidimensional keyboard controller.

Originally from Vestal, New York, Lainhart studied electronic music at the State University of New York (Binghamton) from 1971-1973. In 1973 he worked with director Nicholas Ray on the soundtrack to one of Ray's final films, We Can't Go Home Again, although Lainhart's score was not used in the final version. Lainhart earned his bachelor's degree in music from the State University at New York at Albany, where he studied composition and electronic music with composer Joel Chadabe and worked extensively with the Coordinated Electronic Music Studio (CEMS), at the time the largest integrated Moog modular synthesizer system in the world.

While a student at Albany, Lainhart assisted and performed with many celebrated guest composers, including John Cage, David Tudor, Phill Niblock, David Behrman, Beth Anderson, Luis de Pablo, Harley Gaber, Daniel Goode, and Giuseppe Englert.