Franz Kamin
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Franz Kamin (May 25, 1941 – April 11, 2010) was an American author, composer, poet, performance-installation artist, and pianist whose works explore structural principles derived from topology, general systems theory, prosody, and meditational processes in unusual combinations of genre and technique. He made use of conventional instruments and children's toys; sound poetry and puppet theater; choreography and speaking chorus; systematic
chance operations Chance may refer to: Mathematics and Science * In mathematics, likelihood of something (by way of the Likelihood function and/or Probability density function). * ''Chance'' (statistics magazine) Places * Chance, Kentucky, US * Chance, Ma ...
and both programmed and otherwise uncommon improvisation; performance scribbling and the live reading of narrative texts. Born in Milwaukee, Kamin studied composition at the University of Oklahoma with Spencer Norton, and at Indiana University with Roque Cordero, where he also studied piano with Alfonso Montecino. While at IU, Kamin, together with fellow composer
James Brody James Brody (July 13, 1941 – April 11, 2010) was an American composer, born in Clearfield, Pennsylvania. Frank J. Oteri of the American Music Center's ''New Music Box'' called Brody "an important figure in the development of electronic music ...
organized FIASCO, an experimental collective which meet weekly in Bloomington from 1966 to 1972. Among his compositions from this period was "The Concert of Doors", a
synaesthetic Synesthesia (American English) or synaesthesia (British English) is a perceptual phenomenon in which stimulation of one sensory or cognitive pathway leads to involuntary experiences in a second sensory or cognitive pathway. People who rep ...
work in which a number of doors, each of vastly differing design, some found, some constructed, ranging from comical to mysterious, were set on a path through a woods to be traversed by the audience-participants. Kamin moved to New York City in the 1970s and collaborated with cellist Charlotte Moorman, a fixture in the downtown avant-garde scene at that time. He eventually settled in Saint Paul, Minnesota, where he remained for the rest of his life. Kamin published two books full books of trans-genre work: ''Ann-Margret Loves You & Other Psychotopological Diversions'' (1980) and ''Scribble Death'' (Station Hill Press: Barrytown, New York). Several of his shorter works, musical scores and an LP recording of Behavioral Drift II and Rugugmool have also been published. He was killed in a car crash in Roseville, Minnesota when a car driven by
James Brody James Brody (July 13, 1941 – April 11, 2010) was an American composer, born in Clearfield, Pennsylvania. Frank J. Oteri of the American Music Center's ''New Music Box'' called Brody "an important figure in the development of electronic music ...
, who also died, left the road, jumped a curb, and hit a tree. The two composers were returning from a SEAMUS festival in
St. Cloud, Minnesota St. Cloud is a city in the U.S. state of Minnesota and the largest population center in the state's central region. The population was 68,881 at the 2020 census, making it Minnesota's 12th-largest city. St. Cloud is the county seat of Stear ...
. Their names were released on April 12, 2010, by the Ramsey County medical examiner's office.


References

1941 births 2010 deaths American male composers American composers Road incident deaths in Minnesota University of Oklahoma alumni Indiana University alumni Writers from Milwaukee {{US-composer-20thC-stub