Robert Shumaker and Charles Amirkhanian, full length portrait, sitting, in Nancarrow’s studio, Mexico City, (1977)

Charles Amirkhanian Collection ➔ Robert Shumaker and Charles Amirkhanian, full length portrait, sitting, in Nancarrow’s studio, Mexico City, (1977)

Still image


Identifier
IM.CA.PC.0051.012
Dates
1977 | created
Work Type
Photographic print
Image Class
KPFA Staff & Studios
Image Series
A Visit with Conlon Nancarrow in Mexico (1977)
Description
Robert Shumaker and Charles Amirkhanian (l to r) sitting in Conlon Nancarrow’s Mexico City home studio in 1977. Nancarrow was an American born composer and dedicated Socialist who fought for the Abraham Lincoln Brigade during the Spanish Civil War. Upon returning to the United States he was denied a passport due to his political leanings, so he left the country to live in self-imposed exile in Mexico, where he began composing a number of remarkable works for player piano. Despite occasional contact with interested avant-garde composers such as John Cage, Nancarrow and his work was relatively unknown in his native land until Charles Amirkhanian tracked him down and paid him a visit in 1977. Their association eventually lead to a number of concerts of Nancarrow’s works in the United States, the release of recordings of his “Piano Studies,” and his gradual recognition as one of the most important and adventurous composers of the last half of the 20th Century.
Genres & Subjects
Group portraits--1970-1980
Men
Studios
Magnetic recorders and recording
Image Ownership
Carol Law
Photo Credits
Carol Law