- Richard Grayson (composer)
Richard Grayson is an American
composer andpianist .Grayson studied music at the UCLA where he received a B.A. in 1962, going on to earn an M.A. in composition at the
University of Chicago in 1963. He attended the Berkshire Music Festival atTanglewood on a composition scholarship in 1964. AFulbright Scholarship enabled him to study withHenri Pousseur in 1965–66, inBrussels and at theCologne Courses for New Music. Returning to the United States, he completed a Ph.D. in composition at UCLA in 1969, in the same year joining the faculty ofOccidental College inLos Angeles , where he remained until retirement in 2001. Since 2001 he has taught courses in music theory at the Crossroads School, and piano at the Aube Tzerko Piano Institute at the New Roads School, both inSanta Monica, California .As a pianist, he is best-known as an improvisor of classical music, most often with live-electronics. From 1971 to 1986 he served on the Executive Board of the Monday Evening Concerts at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and frequently appeared as a pianist in concerts on that series. He has made six recordings of music by other 20th-century composers, including
Luigi Dallapiccola ,Aurelio de la Vega ,Andrew Imbrie ,Charles Ives ,Leonard Rosenman , and Roy Travis, as well as four recordings of his own compositions. He is also serves asorganist at St. Martin of Tours Church, West Los Angeles.Compositions (selective list)
* "Anybody's Guess", for multiple electronic keyboards
* "Aurore", for flute, clarinet, harp, piano, violin, and cello
* "Fantasy on Broadway Boogie Woogie", electronic music with video
* "Homage to J.S. Bach", for harpsichord, with tape delay
* "Listen for the Bell", electronic music with video
* "Meadow Music", for solo piano
* "Mr. 528", for three disklaviers and three clavinovas (1996)
* "Off Broadway", electronic music with video
* "Ostinato", for two synthesizers and a sequencer
* "Promenade", for two amplified accordions
* "Rain", for piano, ring modulator, and tape delay
* "Rocky Road Ripple", electronic music with video
* "Shoot the Piano Player", computer-controlled pianos (1995)External links
* [http://faculty.oxy.edu/rgrayson/ Richard Grayson's Home Page]
* [http://www.youtube.com/user/improvelectronic Video Excerpts from Richard Grayson's Improvisation Concerts on YouTube]
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