Composer of the Week: Julius Eastman

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Composer of the Week

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An informative guide to composers' lives and their music.

An informative and accessible guide to composers' lives and their music.

Composer of the Week: Julius Eastman (1940-1990): To Obtain Wisdom

To Obtain Wisdom

Julius Eastman (1940-1990)

BBC Radio 3 - Composer of the Week, Julius Eastman (1940-1990), To Obtain Wisdom

Donald Macleod unravels the enigmatic, remarkable story of New Yorker Julius Eastman.

Donald Macleod attempts to unravel the enigmatic, remarkable story of Julius Eastman and his music. Today, he traces Julius Eastman’s first steps into the world of music.

Donald Macleod traces Julius Eastman’s first steps into the world of music.

When this week’s composer died homeless and alone in 1990, almost no-one knew, not even his friends, and his work threatened to disappear with him.  Julius Eastman had lit up America’s contemporary music scene as a spellbinding performer and a visionary composer whose music is difficult to pigeonhole.  A gay, black man in the predominantly white world of new music, Eastman was often misunderstood.  His musical voice fused minimalism with pop and the avant-garde, and was inextricable from his identity politics - a sound that was provocative then and remains so today.  He collaborated with luminaries such as Pierre Boulez, Peter Maxwell Davies and Meredith Monk but also faced many struggles, leading to his premature and tragic decline.  This week, Donald Macleod shares his long-overdue story, with insights from American baritone Davone Tines, a performer and champion of Eastman’s music.

Today, Donald traces Eastman’s early years and his musical beginnings. At school in Ithaca NY, friends recalled their surprise when the smallest person in choir had indisputably the largest voice. Despite being told that no college would accept him, Eastman went on to study piano with Miezcyslaw Horszowski, and later switched to composition, writing on his application form that his goal was “to obtain wisdom”. Living penniless at the YMCA, as one of a handful of black students, we see him begin to wrestle with the first of many obstacles in his musical path. 


Stay On It (excerpt) 
Georgia Mitoff, voice
Petr Kotik, piano
Benjamin Hudson, violin
Amrom Chodos, clarinet
Joseph Ford, Doug Gaston, saxophones
Dennis Kahle, Jan Williams, percussion
Julius Eastman, director

Piano 2 (1st movement)
Joseph Kubera, piano

Gay Guerrilla 
Kai Schumacher, Patricia Martin, Mirela Zhulali, Benedikt ter Braak, pianos

If You’re So Smart, Why Aren’t You Rich? (excerpt)
Julius Eastman, conductor
Various Artists (student ensemble) 

Produced in Cardiff by Amelia Parker

Composer of the Week: Julius Eastman (1940-1990)

Live music and the arts: broadcasts more live music than any other radio network. Classical music is its core. Genres include world and new music, jazz, speech and drama.

Donald Macleod attempts to unravel the enigmatic, remarkable story of Julius Eastman.

Donald Macleod attempts to unravel the enigmatic, remarkable story of Julius Eastman - a spellbinding performer and visionary composer, whose music is difficult to pigeonhole.

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Julius Eastman (1940-1990)

To Obtain Wisdom

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