Andrew Culver (composer)

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Andrew Culver
Andrew Culver Tensegrity Sound Source Number 5.jpg
Background information
Born(1953-08-30)August 30, 1953
Morristown, New Jersey
Occupation(s)Musician, Composer, Entrepreneur
InstrumentsElectronics, Piano, Tensegrity Sound Source, Percussion, Guitar
Associated actsJohn Cage, Merce Cunningham

Andrew Culver (born August 30, 1953) is a Canadian-American composer and software entrepreneur. Culver's works have included chamber and orchestral music, electronic and computer music, sound sculpture and music sculpture, film, lighting, text pieces, and installations.[1] He performs concerts with sound sources of his own invention that are based on the tensegrity structural principle as elaborated by Buckminster Fuller, a lifelong influence.

Career[]

Culver worked as John Cage’s creative assistant for 11 years, involved in all aspects of Cage’s musical, poetic, operatic and film work.[2] He wrote the operation and compositional process software Cage used during that period, and directed Cage's operas, sound and light installations. He continued directing Cage installations and operas after the composer’s death, including posthumous premieres.[3][4][5]

Culver was the founding member of Sonde, a music design and ensemble that grew out of McGill University. Culver’s interests are varied in concept, technique and media. He has created and/or directed work in a wide variety of performance, theatrical, electronic, computer, audio-visual, sculptural and installation situations. He has written on art, music and anarchy since the 70’s, for publications such as the Montreal Star, Musicworks, and Circuit.[6] He has developed software and database structures and invented or developed a variety of formal, structural, time, pitch and microtonal systems.

Culver's largest work is Ocean 1—133 (1994,[7] 2006), the orchestral component of Ocean, which was conceived by John Cage and Merce Cunningham, with choreography by Merce Cunningham, electronic music by David Tudor, and design by Marsha Skinner.[8] David Tudor provided and performed (before his death) the electronic music component, and artist Marsha Skinner, the lighting and costumes.[9][10] The work is big: 90 minutes for 150 soloists in the round, without a conductor. It has been performed some 60 times, at Lincoln Center in New York,[11] La Fenice in Venice, in Amsterdam, Brussels, Belfast, Berkeley, Montpelier and Japan, New York, London and Miami. Culver describes the work by saying, "There is no score. There's 150 solo parts. Everyone is a soloist."[12]

Culver is the Founder and co-CEO of iLiv,[13] a software and services company.

Culver also writes about music, art, and anarchy. He is the founder of Anarchic Harmony Foundation,[14] a non-profit organization that funds and manages projects in the fields of music, opera, multimedia, etc.[15] He is the inventor of the Anarchic Philharmonic.

References[]

  1. ^ https://moderecords.com/profiles/andrewculver/
  2. ^ http://www.improvcommunity.ca/hvs/culver_bio_eng.html
  3. ^ "Special event - Andrew Culver - On the Duty of Experiencing John Cage's Essay — CIRMMT".
  4. ^ Silverman, Kenneth (19 October 2010). Begin Again: A Biography of John Cage. ISBN 9780307594570.
  5. ^ Nast, Condé. "MERCE'S OCEAN". The New Yorker.
  6. ^ "Andrew Culver — Circuit — Musiques contemporaines". revuecircuit.ca.
  7. ^ https://www.getty.edu/research/tools/guides_bibliographies/david_tudor/av/ocean.html
  8. ^ Sit, Janet (January 29, 2018). "Anarchic Practices in the Merce Cunningham Dance Company's Ocean". Musicological Explorations. 15: 69–93 – via journals.uvic.ca.
  9. ^ https://walkerart.org/magazine/merce-cunningham-john-cage-ocean-quarry
  10. ^ https://www.eai.org/titles/ocean
  11. ^ "Ocean - Merce Cunningham Trust". www.mercecunningham.org.
  12. ^ Kerr, Euan. "Dance hits rock bottom with unique setting of 'Ocean'". www.thecurrent.org.
  13. ^ "Andrew Culver".
  14. ^ "About Andrew Culver". www.anarchicharmony.org.
  15. ^ "Anarchic Harmony". www.anarchicharmony.org.


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