David Behrman (born August 16, 1937) 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 ...

and a pioneer of computer music. In the early 1960s he was the producer of

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music, Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese Conglomerate (company), conglomerate Sony. It was founded on Janua ...

' ''Music of Our Time'' series, which included the first recording of

Terry Riley Terrence Mitchell "Terry" Riley (born June 24, 1935) is an American composer and performing musician best known as a pioneer of the minimalist school of composition. Influenced by jazz and Indian classical music, his music became notable for it ...

's ''

In C ''In C'' is a musical piece composed by Terry Riley in 1964 for an indefinite number of performers. He suggests "a group of about 35 is desired if possible but smaller or larger groups will work". A series of short melodic fragments, ''In C'' is o ...

''.David Behrman: Foundation for Contemporary Arts.
Biography. In 1966 Behrman co-founded

Sonic Arts Union The Sonic Arts Union was a collective of experimental musicians that was active between 1966 and 1976. The founding members of the group were Robert Ashley, David Behrman, Alvin Lucier and Gordon Mumma, all of whom had worked together in the instru ...

with fellow composers

Robert Ashley Robert Reynolds Ashley (March 28, 1930 – March 3, 2014) was an American composer, who was best known for his television operas and other theatrical works, many of which incorporate electronics and extended techniques. His works often involve ...

Alvin Lucier Alvin Augustus Lucier Jr. (May 14, 1931 – December 1, 2021) was an American composer of experimental music and sound installations that explore acoustic phenomena and auditory perception. A long-time music professor at Wesleyan University in Mi ...

and

Gordon Mumma Gordon Mumma (born March 30, 1935, in Framingham, Massachusetts) is an American composer. He is known most for his work with electronics, many devices of which he builds himself, and for his performances on horn. Biography Mumma entered the Univer ...

. He wrote the music for

Merce Cunningham Mercier Philip "Merce" Cunningham (April 16, 1919 – July 26, 2009) was an American dancer and choreographer who was at the forefront of American modern dance for more than 50 years. He frequently collaborated with artists of other discipl ...

's dances ''Walkaround Time'' (1968), ''Rebus'' (1975), ''Pictures'' (1984) and ''Eyespace 40'' (2007). In 1978, he released his debut album ''

On the Other Ocean ''On the Other Ocean'' is the debut studio album by American composer David Behrman, released in 1978 by Lovely Music, Ltd. Considered a pioneering work in the genre of computer music, the album pairs computers with live players. Background and r ...

'', a pioneering work combining

computer music Computer music is the application of computing technology in music composition, to help human composers create new music or to have computers independently create music, such as with algorithmic composition programs. It includes the theory and ap ...

with live performance.

Biography

Early life and education

Behrman's father, S. N. Behrman, was a successful playwright and Hollywood screenplay writer. His mother Elza Heifetz Behrman was the sister of violinist

Jascha Heifetz Jascha Heifetz (; December 10, 1987) was a Russian-born American violinist. Born in Vilnius, he moved while still a teenager to the United States, where his Carnegie Hall debut was rapturously received. He was a virtuoso since childhood. Fritz ...

. Behrman attended the

Phillips Academy ("Not for Self") la, Finis Origine Pendet ("The End Depends Upon the Beginning") Youth From Every Quarter Knowledge and Goodness , address = 180 Main Street , city = Andover , state = Ma ...

in Andover, Massachusetts, where his classmates included

Carl Andre Carl Andre (born September 16, 1935) is an American minimalist artist recognized for his ordered linear and grid format sculptures and for the suspected murder of contemporary and wife, Ana Mendieta. His sculptures range from large public art ...

Hollis Frampton Hollis William Frampton, Jr. (March 11, 1936 – March 30, 1984) was an American avant-garde filmmaker, photographer, writer, theoretician, and pioneer of digital art. He was best known for his innovative and non-linear structural films that defin ...

and

Frank Stella Frank Philip Stella (born May 12, 1936) is an American painter, sculptor and printmaker, noted for his work in the areas of minimalism and post-painterly abstraction. Stella lives and works in New York City. Biography Frank Stella was born in M ...

. There he also developed a lifelong friendship with composer and pianist

Frederic Rzewski Frederic Anthony Rzewski ( ; April 13, 1938 – June 26, 2021) was an American composer and pianist, considered to be one of the most important American composer-pianists of his time. His major compositions, which often incorporate social an ...

. While attending summer camp at Indian Hill in 1953 he was taught modern music by

Wallingford Riegger Wallingford Constantine Riegger ( ; April 29, 1885 – April 2, 1961) was an American modernist composer and pianist, best known for his orchestral and modern dance music. He was born in Albany, Georgia, but spent most of his career in New York Ci ...

. He studied music at Harvard from 1955 to 1959, where he formed a lifelong friendship with Christian Wolff and where he continued his friendship with Frederic Rzewski. He attended the summer school at Darmstadt in 1959, where he met

La Monte Young La Monte Thornton Young (born October 14, 1935) is an American composer, musician, and performance artist recognized as one of the first American minimalist composers and a central figure in Fluxus and post-war avant-garde music. He is best kno ...

and

Nam June Paik Nam June Paik (; July 20, 1932 – January 29, 2006) was a Korean American artist. He worked with a variety of media and is considered to be the founder of video art. He is credited with the first use (1974) of the term "electronic super hi ...

. He received a Master of Arts from

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

in 1963.

Teaching

He has been a member of the Avery Graduate Arts Program faculty at

Bard College Bard College is a private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York. The campus overlooks the Hudson River and Catskill Mountains, and is within the Hudson River Historic ...

since 1998. He was co-director of the Center for Contemporary Music at

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 1975–1980, and has taught also at the

California Institute of the Arts The California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) is a private art university in Santa Clarita, California. It was incorporated in 1961 as the first degree-granting institution of higher learning in the US created specifically for students of both ...

Ohio State University The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best publ ...

Rutgers University Rutgers University (; RU), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a Public university, public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's ...

, and the

Technical University of Berlin The Technical University of Berlin (official name both in English and german: link=no, Technische Universität Berlin, also known as TU Berlin and Berlin Institute of Technology) is a public research university located in Berlin, Germany. It was ...

Music

Behrman is known as a minimalist composer. His music has often involved interactions between live performers and computers, usually with the computer generating sounds triggered by some aspect of the live performance, usually certain pitches, but sometimes other aspects of the live sound, such as volume in ''QRSL'' (as recorded by Maggi Payne on ''The Extended Flute'' (CRI807). Many of his significant works, such as ''

'', ''Interspecies Small Talk'', and others have been released on Lovely Music.

Personal life

Behrman was briefly married to Japanese video artist, sculptor and avant-garde performance artist

Shigeko Kubota (2 August 1937 – 23 July 2015) was a Japanese video artist, sculptor and avant-garde performance artist, who mostly lived in New York City. She was one of the first artists to adopt the portable video camera Sony Portapak in 1970, likening it ...

. The marriage ended in 1969. He has been married since 1979 to media-artist Terri Hanlon. Behrman lives in New York City.

Awards

* 1994,

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.

Discography

*''

'' Lovely Music Ltd. (1977) *''Leapday Night'' Lovely Music Ltd. (1987) *''Unforeseen Events'' XI Records (1991) *''Wave Train'' Alga Marghen (1998) *''My Dear Siegfried'' XI Records (2005)

Films

*1976 - ''Music With Roots in the Aether: Opera for Television''. Tape 1: David Behrman. Produced and directed by

. New York, New York: Lovely Music. *2008 - Roulette TV: ''David Behrman''.

Roulette Intermedium Roulette Intermedium is a performing arts and new music venue located in Brooklyn, New York City. Founded in 1978, it has been located in the neighborhoods of Tribeca and SoHo in Manhattan, and now resides in a renovated theater in downtown Brookly ...

Inc.

External links

David Behrman Website
from Kalvos & Damian New Music Bazaar
Lovely Music Artist: David Behrman
by Theresa Stern (August 1997)
David Behrman at Bard CollegeDavid Behrman at Arcane Candy

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Behrman, David 1937 births Living people 20th-century American composers 20th-century classical composers 20th-century American male musicians 21st-century classical composers 21st-century American composers 21st-century American male musicians American experimental musicians American male classical composers American classical composers Columbia University alumni Harvard University alumni Phillips Academy alumni Pupils of Karlheinz Stockhausen Bard College faculty California Institute of the Arts faculty Ohio State University faculty Mills College faculty Rutgers University faculty Academic staff of the Technical University of Berlin People from New York City Austrian emigrants to the United States