Charles Benjamin Amirkhanian (born January 19, 1945;

Fresno, California Fresno () is a major city in the San Joaquin Valley of California, United States. It is the county seat of Fresno County and the largest city in the greater Central Valley region. It covers about and had a population of 542,107 in 2020, makin ...

) is an American

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Defi ...

. He is a percussionist, sound poet, and radio producer of

Armenian Armenian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Armenia, a country in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia * Armenians, the national people of Armenia, or people of Armenian descent ** Armenian Diaspora, Armenian communities across the ...

origin. He is mostly known for his electroacoustic and text-sound music. Performance artist

Laurie Anderson Laurel Philips Anderson (born June 5, 1947), known as Laurie Anderson, is an American avant-garde artist, composer, musician, and film director whose work spans performance art, pop music, and multimedia projects. Initially trained in violin and ...

praises his work: "The art of audio

collage Collage (, from the french: coller, "to glue" or "to stick together";) is a technique of art creation, primarily used in the visual arts, but in music too, by which art results from an assemblage of different forms, thus creating a new whole. ...

has been reinvented here... A brilliant sense of imaginary space."

Career

Amirkhanian received his

Master of Fine Arts A Master of Fine Arts (MFA or M.F.A.) is a terminal degree in fine arts, including visual arts, creative writing, graphic design, photography, filmmaking, dance, theatre, other performing arts and in some cases, theatre management or arts admini ...

from

Mills College Mills College at Northeastern University is a private college in Oakland, California and part of Northeastern University's global university system. Mills College was founded as the Young Ladies Seminary in 1852 in Benicia, California; it was ...

in 1980, where he studied electronic music and techniques of sound recording. He was music director of

Pacifica Radio Pacifica may refer to: Art * ''Pacifica'' (statue), a 1938 statue by Ralph Stackpole for the Golden Gate International Exposition Places * Pacifica, California, a city in the United States ** Pacifica Pier, a fishing pier * Pacifica, a conceiv ...

KPFA KPFA (94.1 FM) is an American listener-funded talk radio and music radio station located in Berkeley, California, broadcasting to the San Francisco Bay Area. KPFA airs public news, public affairs, talk, and music programming. The station sign ...

-FM in

Berkeley, California Berkeley ( ) is a city on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay in northern Alameda County, California, United States. It is named after the 18th-century Irish bishop and philosopher George Berkeley. It borders the cities of Oakland and Emer ...

, from 1969 to 1992, and he was a lecturer in the Interdisciplinary Creative Arts Department at

San Francisco State University San Francisco State University (commonly referred to as San Francisco State, SF State and SFSU) is a public research university in San Francisco. As part of the 23-campus California State University system, the university offers 118 different b ...

from 1977 to 1980. He co-directed the

Telluride Institute The Telluride Institute (TI) was founded in 1984 in the resort town of Telluride, Colorado, by John Lifton, Pamela Zoline, John Clute, John Naisbitt and Patricia Aburdene, authors of the ''Megatrends'' books, and Amory and Hunter Lovins of the Ro ...

's Composer to Composer festival in

Telluride, Colorado Telluride is the county seat and most populous town of San Miguel County in the southwestern portion of the U.S. state of Colorado. The town is a former silver mining camp on the San Miguel River in the western San Juan Mountains. The first ...

, between 1988 and 1991. Amirkhanian is the executive director and artistic director of the Other Minds Music Festival in San Francisco, which he co-founded with

Jim Newman James Newman may refer to: * James Newman (actor) (born 1992), American actor * James Newman (singer), English singer-songwriter * James C. Newman, American engineer and materials scientist * James H. Newman (born 1956), American astronaut * James ...

in 1992. He has played a key role in recording and championing the work of

Conlon Nancarrow Samuel Conlon Nancarrow (; October 27, 1912 – August 10, 1997) was an American- Mexican composer who lived and worked in Mexico for most of his life. Nancarrow is best remembered for his ''Studies for Player Piano'', being one of the first ...

and

George Antheil George Johann Carl Antheil (; July 8, 1900 – February 12, 1959) was an American avant-garde composer, pianist, author, and inventor whose modernist musical compositions explored the modern sounds – musical, industrial, and mechanical – of t ...

, among others. In 1984, the

American Music Center New Music USA is a new music organization formed by the merging of the American Music Center with Meet The Composer on November 8, 2011. The new organization retains the granting programs of the two former organizations as well as two media program ...

awarded him its Letter of Distinction for service to American composers through his work at KPFA FM in Berkeley, California. This was followed in 2005 by another for his co-founding and directing the Other Minds Festival in San Francisco. From

ASCAP The American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) () is an American not-for-profit performance-rights organization (PRO) that collectively licenses the public performance rights of its members' musical works to venues, broadca ...

in 1989 he received the Deems Taylor Award, also for service to American composers. Amirkhanian received a 1997

Foundation for Contemporary Arts The Foundation for Contemporary Arts (FCA), is a nonprofit based foundation in New York City that offers financial support and recognition to contemporary performing and visual artists through awards for artistic innovation and potential. It was ...

Grants to Artists Award. In 2009,

Chamber Music America Chamber Music America (CMA) is an American non-profit organization that provides small ensemble professionals with access to a variety of professional development, networking, and funding resources. CMA's regular initiatives include grants, awards, ...

and ASCAP honored him for his Adventurous Programming of Contemporary Music with Other Minds. In 2017, the

American Composers Forum The American Composers Forum is an American organization that works for the promotion and assistance of American composers and contemporary classical music. It was founded in 1973 as the Minnesota Composers Forum and is based in Saint Paul, Minn ...

honored him with its Champion of New Music award. https://composersforum.org/2017-champion-of-new-music-charles-amirkhanian/

Discography

* ''10+2: 12 American Text-Sound Pieces'' (1975). 1750 Arch Records S-1752 (LP) reissued in 2003 on Other Minds/CD 1006-2 compilation which includes Amirkhanian's 'Just (1972)' and 'Heavy Aspirations (1973) * ''Lexical Music'' (1979). 1750 Arch Records S-1779 (LP) * ''Polipoetry Issues Numero 3: American Sound Poetry'' (1983). 3Vitre – EM 00383 (limited edition 7" LP) Compilation containing Amirkhanian's 'The Putts' * ''Mental Radio: Nine Text-Sound Compositions'' (1985). CRI-SD 523 (LP); reissued in 2009 on New World Records NWCRL 523 (CD) * ''

Perspectives of New Music ''Perspectives of New Music'' (PNM) is a peer-reviewed academic journal specializing in music theory and analysis. It was established in 1962 by Arthur Berger and Benjamin Boretz (who were its initial editors-in-chief). ''Perspectives'' was first ...

'' (1988). Compilation CD accompanying volume 26 issue. Contains: Pas de Voix (Portrait of Samuel Beckett) * Charles Amirkhanian and

Noah Creshevsky Noah Creshevsky (January 31, 1945 – December 3, 2020) was a composer and electronic musician born in Rochester, New York. He used the term hyperrealism to describe his work. Biography Trained in composition by Nadia Boulanger in Paris and Lucia ...

: ''Auxesis: Electroacoustic Music'',

Centaur Records Centaur Records is one of the oldest and largest independent classical labels in America. The company is located in Baton Rouge, Louisiana and was founded by Victor Sachse in 1976. Centaur's catalog includes classical, historical, pops, contemp ...

1995 – CRC 2194 * ''Walking Tune'' (1998). Starkland ST-206. "One of the Year's 20 best CDs," according to the

Electronic Music Foundation Electronic Music Foundation (EMF) is a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) organization that produces events, publishes and disseminates media and information, and provides access to materials relevant to the history and creative potential of electronic music ...

. * ''Charles Amirkhanian: Loudspeakers'' (2019). New World Records 80817 (2-CD set). "What links all these pieces is a creative ambiguity of genre, a delight in shifting back and forth between elements whose sources can be recognized and those whose can’t." –

Kyle Gann Kyle Eugene Gann (born November 21, 1955, in Dallas, Texas) is an American professor of music, critic, analyst, and composer who has worked primarily in the New York City area. As a music critic for ''The Village Voice'' (from 1986 to 2005) and ...

* ''Miatsoom'' (2021). Other Minds Records OM 1029-2 Contains: Dzarin Bess Ga Khorim, Roussier (not Rouffier), Three Armenians, & Miatsoom * ''Charles Amirkhanian & Carol Law Hypothetical Moments—Collaborative Works 1975-1985'' (2022). Other Minds Records OM 4001 DVD. Video works by Carol Law, music by Amirkhanian. Contains: History of Collage, Audience, Tremolo Bank, Dog of Stravinsky, Maria, The Real Perpetual Mobile, Mahogany Ballpark, Hypothetical Moments (in the intellectual life of Southern California), Awe, And as, Dreams Freud Dreamed, Too True. 81 Minutes. All regions NTSC. “Though they fracture almost all of the rules, there remains a refined, classical undertone and motivation to their work. The resultant combination of voice and visual image was magical . . . Amirkhanian and Law presented a new approach to using the most classic instruments of all—the voice, the eyes and the ears . . . a fitting tribute to the brilliant potential of New Music.” — Jack Kolkmeyer, The Santa Fe Reporter, 1983.

Partial list of works

Tape works unless otherwise noted; † indicates optional live voice(s). * Symphony I (for 13 players, 1965) * Words (1969) * Oratora Konkurso Rezulto: Autoro de la Jaro (Portrait of

Lou Harrison Lou Silver Harrison (May 14, 1917 – February 2, 2003) was an American composer, music critic, music theorist, painter, and creator of unique musical instruments. Harrison initially wrote in a dissonant, ultramodernist style similar to his form ...

, 1970) * If In Is (1971) * Radii (1970/2) * Dzarin Bess Ga Khorim (1972) * Just (1972) * Heavy Aspirations (1973) * Seatbelt Seatbelt (1973) * Roussier (not Rouffier) (1973) * Mugic (1973) * she and she (1974) * Muchrooms (1974) * Mahogany Ballpark (1976) * Dutiful Ducks (1977) † * Dreams

Freud Sigmund Freud ( , ; born Sigismund Schlomo Freud; 6 May 1856 – 23 September 1939) was an Austrian neurologist and the founder of psychoanalysis, a clinical method for evaluating and treating pathologies explained as originating in conflicts in ...

Dreamed (1979) * Egusquiza to Falsetto (chamber ensemble with tape, with Margaret Fisher, 1979) * Church Car (1980) † * Nite Traps (1981) * Dot Bunch (1981) * Hypothetical Moments (In the Intellectual Life of Southern California, 1981) * Maroa (1981) † * Too True (1982) † * Dog of

Stravinsky Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky (6 April 1971) was a Russian composer, pianist and conductor, later of French (from 1934) and American (from 1945) citizenship. He is widely considered one of the most important and influential 20th-century clas ...

(1982) * Andas (1982)† * The Real Perpetuum Mobile (1984) * Gold and Spirit (1984) * Metropolis San Francisco (1985-6) * Dumbek Bookache (1986) † * Walking Tune (A Room-Music for

Percy Grainger Percy Aldridge Grainger (born George Percy Grainger; 8 July 188220 February 1961) was an Australian-born composer, arranger and pianist who lived in the United States from 1914 and became an American citizen in 1918. In the course of a long an ...

, 1986–87) * His Anxious Hours (chamber ensemble with tape, 1987) * Pas de Voix (Portrait of

Samuel Beckett Samuel Barclay Beckett (; 13 April 1906 – 22 December 1989) was an Irish novelist, dramatist, short story writer, theatre director, poet, and literary translator. His literary and theatrical work features bleak, impersonal and tragicomic expe ...

, 1987) * Politics as Usual (1988) * Never Say Die (1989) * Im Frühling (1990) * Vers Les Anges (for

Nicolas Slonimsky Nicolas Slonimsky ( – December 25, 1995), born Nikolai Leonidovich Slonimskiy (russian: Никола́й Леони́дович Сло́нимский), was a Russian-born American conductor, author, pianist, composer and lexicographer. B ...

, 1990) * Bajanoom (1990) * Loudspeakers (for

Morton Feldman Morton Feldman (January 12, 1926 – September 3, 1987) was an American composer. A major figure in 20th-century classical music, Feldman was a pioneer of indeterminate music, a development associated with the experimental New York School ...

, 1990) * A Berkelium Canon (1991, with Henry Kaiser) * Chu Lu Lu (1992) * Ka Himeni Hehena (The Raving Mad Hymn, 1997) † * Miatsoom (1994–97) * Son of Metropolis San Francisco (1997) * Marathon (1997) † * Octet for Ratchets (amplified percussion ensemble, 1998) * Pianola (Pas de mains, 1997–2000) * Mqsical Lou (2003) * Rippling the Lamp (violin and tape, 2006–7) * Quince Quinoa (2007) † * Audible Autopsy (2021) (solo string bass and offstage interviewer) * Ratchet Attach It (2021) (9 percussion with tape)

References

External links

*Golden, Barbara
"Conversation with Charles Amirkhanian."
''

eContact! Founded in 1986, La Communauté électroacoustique canadienne / The Canadian Electroacoustic Community (CEC) is Canada's national electroacoustic / computer music / sonic arts organization and is dedicated to promoting this progressive art form i ...

'' 12.2 – Interviews (2) (April 2010). Montréal:

Canadian Electroacoustic Community Founded in 1986, La Communauté électroacoustique canadienne / The Canadian Electroacoustic Community (CEC) is Canada's national electroacoustic / computer music / sonic arts organization and is dedicated to promoting this progressive art form i ...

Listening

Art of the States
three works by Charles Amirkhanian

featuring music from Amirkhanian's LP ''Mental Radio''

Sound/Text by Charles Amirkhanian
Author page
at Lyrikline.org, with audio and text. {{DEFAULTSORT:Amirkhanian, Charles American classical composers American public radio personalities American radio producers American sound artists Sound poets 1945 births Living people American male classical composers American classical musicians of Armenian descent Pacifica Foundation people Musicians from Fresno, California 20th-century classical composers 21st-century classical composers 21st-century American composers 20th-century American composers 20th-century American male musicians 21st-century American male musicians Centaur Records artists