Charles Amirkhanian Collection ➔ Conlon Nancarrow seated next to a piano, face turned to the camera, Telluride CO., (1989)
Still image
Identifier
IM.CA.CC.1989a.002.004Dates
1989 | createdWork Type
Digital photographImage Class
Composer & Performer PortraitsImage Series
Composer-to-Composer Festival:1989Description
Conlon Nancarrow seated next to a piano, on stage at the Sheridan Opera House in Telluride CO., where as part of the 1989 Composer-to-Composer Festival he collaborated with the artist Trimpin, who built a computer controller to enable one of Nancarrow’s studies for player piano to be performed by mallets striking an arrangement of Dutch wooden shoes hung from the balcony. 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, including several in collaboration with Trimpin. Due to this increased interest in his music, Nancarrow lived to see the release of recordings of his “Piano Studies,” and the gradual recognition of him as one of the most important and adventurous composers of the last half of the 20th Century.Genres & Subjects
Portrait photographs--1980-1990Men
Composers
Image Ownership
John Fago / Other MindsPhoto Credits
John FagoRelated Event
Composer-to-Composer Festival, 1989Related place
Telluride (Colo.) (was created at)Related Entities
Fago, JohnNancarrow, Conlon, 1912-1997
Telluride Institute
Composer-to-Composer Festival