Albert Mayr (1 August 1943 – 28 January 2024) was an Italian composer of

experimental An experiment is a procedure carried out to support or refute a hypothesis, or determine the efficacy or likelihood of something previously untried. Experiments provide insight into cause-and-effect by demonstrating what outcome occurs whe ...

and

contemporary music Contemporary music is whatever music is produced at the current time. Specifically, it could refer to: Genres or audiences * Adult contemporary music * British contemporary R&B * Christian adult contemporary * Christian contemporary hit radio * Con ...

. He studied music and composition in three different cities: at conservatories in both Bolzano and Florence and at the

Darmstädter Ferienkurse Darmstädter Ferienkurse ("Darmstadt Summer Course") is a regular summer event of contemporary classical music in Darmstadt, Hesse, Germany. It was founded in 1946, under the name "Ferienkurse für Internationale Neue Musik Darmstadt" (Vacation Co ...

in German. In 1965, Mayr graduated in music and choral singing from the

Florence Conservatory The Conservatorio Luigi Cherubini, better known in English as the Florence Conservatory is a music conservatory in Florence, Italy. It is the only music conservatory in Tuscany with the status of a national conservatory, and is operated by the go ...

. From 1963 to 1969, Mayr worked with

Pietro Grossi Pietro Grossi (15 April 1917, in Venice – 21 February 2002, in Florence) was an Italian composer pioneer of computer music, Visual arts, visual artist and hacker ahead of his time. He began experimenting with electronic techniques in Italy in t ...

at "Fonologia Musicale's study" in Florence and received commissions from the musicological division of CNUCE/CNR. He received commissions from Südtiroler Künstlerbund, from "Brixner Iniziative Musik und Kirche" and from Sound Art at Mobius, Massachusetts Council on the Arts and Humanities. He is a composer of the Florentine artistic movement that has been active since the end of World War II up to the present, including

Sylvano Bussotti Sylvano Bussotti (1 October 1931 – 19 September 2021) was an Italian composer of contemporary classical music, also a painter, set and costume designer, opera director and manager, writer and academic teacher. His compositions employ graphic n ...

, Giuseppe Chiari, Giancarlo Cardini,

Sergio Maltagliati Sergio Maltagliati (born 1960 in Pescia, Italy) is an Italians, Italian Internet-based artist, composer, and visual-digital artist. His first musical experience with the Gialdino Gialdini Musical Band was in the early 70s. Biography On 04/10/ ...

, Marcello Aitiani,

Daniele Lombardi Daniele Lombardi (Florence, August 12, 1946 - Florence, March 11, 2018) was a composer, pianist and visual artist. Biography He is an exponent and main promoter of the group of ''Florentine artists'', operating from the end of the Second World ...

, Pietro Grossi. These musicians have experimented with the interaction among sound, sign and vision, a synaesthetics of art derived from historical avant-gardes, from

Wassily Kandinsky Wassily Wassilyevich Kandinsky ( – 13 December 1944) was a Russian painter and art theorist. Kandinsky is generally credited as one of the pioneers of abstract art, abstraction in western art. Born in Moscow, he spent his childhood in ...

to futurism, to

Alexander Scriabin Alexander Nikolayevich Scriabin, scientific transliteration: ''Aleksandr Nikolaevič Skrjabin''; also transliterated variously as Skriabin, Skryabin, and (in French) Scriabine. The composer himselused the French spelling "Scriabine" which was a ...

and

Arnold Schoenberg Arnold Schoenberg or Schönberg (13 September 187413 July 1951) was an Austrian and American composer, music theorist, teacher and writer. He was among the first Modernism (music), modernists who transformed the practice of harmony in 20th-centu ...

, all the way to

Bauhaus The Staatliches Bauhaus (), commonly known as the , was a German art school operational from 1919 to 1933 that combined Decorative arts, crafts and the fine arts.Oxford Dictionary of Art and Artists (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 4th edn., ...

. From 1969 to 1970, Mayr earned a "Canada Council Fellowship" for

electronic music Electronic music broadly is a group of music genres that employ electronic musical instruments, circuitry-based music technology and software, or general-purpose electronics (such as personal computers) in its creation. It includes both music ...

. From 1970 to 1973, Mayr was in Montréal at Faculty of Music at

McGill University McGill University (French: Université McGill) is an English-language public research university in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1821 by royal charter,Frost, Stanley Brice. ''McGill University, Vol. I. For the Advancement of Learning, ...

. From 1973 to 1990, he taught electronic and experimental music at Conservatory of Florence. Between 1974 and 1975, Mayr organized musical sessions at a psychiatric hospital in

Volterra Volterra (; Latin: ''Volaterrae'') is a walled mountaintop town in the Tuscany region of Italy. Its history dates from before the 8th century BC and it has substantial structures from the Etruscan, Roman, and Medieval periods. History ...

(Tuscany). In 1975, Mayr worked with the

World Soundscape Project The World Soundscape Project (WSP) was an international research project founded by Canadian composer R. Murray Schafer in the late 1960s at Simon Fraser University. The project initiated the modern study of acoustic ecology. Its ultimate goal is ...

. Since 1977, Mayr has been the editor of conferences and seminars at the Sounds/Ambient in Zona in (Florence) and at Centro International of Brera, Milan. Since 1979, Mayr has been a member of the International Society for the Study of Time. In 1980, he founded "Musica Oggi". In 1984 and 1985 he released the documentary ''Von Zeiten und Leuten: am Beispiel Sarntal'', a commission from

RAI (), commercially styled as since 2000 and known until 1954 as (RAI), is the national public broadcasting company of Italy, owned by the Ministry of Economy and Finance. RAI operates many terrestrial and subscription television channels a ...

. Since 1985, Mayr has been a member of "Association for Social Studies of Time". In 1986 he has been editor of the session of "Vivere nel Tempo" meetings, organized by "Provincia di Firenze". In 1990, Mayr was the coordinator of Laboratory of "Progettazione Temporale" by Filcams/CGIL in Florence. In 1994, he was coordinator of the "Il Castello Del Tempo" meetings, organized by "Provincia di Firenze" at Pratolino-Villa Demidoff's park. Since 1995, he has been a member of Forum für Klanglandschaft. In 2004, Mayr released ''Proposte sonore'', seven electronic compositions played in the 1970s and an instrumental track played in 1983. In 2009, Mayr released Tape for Live Musicians by Miraloop, an independent Italian label. "Tape for Live Musicians" consists of three tracks. One of these was developed at musical research centre

Tempo Reale Tempo Reale is an electronic music research, production, and educational centre, based in Florence, Italy. It was founded by composer Luciano Berio, who served as the centre's director from 1987 to 2000, and as honorary president until his death ...

, founded by

Luciano Berio Luciano Berio (24 October 1925 – 27 May 2003) was an Italian composer noted for his experimental music, experimental work (in particular his 1968 composition ''Sinfonia (Berio), Sinfonia'' and his series of virtuosic solo pieces titled ''Seque ...

and directed by the colleague Francesco Giomi. Mayr died on 28 January 2024, at the age of 80.

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* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Mayr, Albert 1943 births 2024 deaths Florence Conservatory alumni Italian classical composers Italian male classical composers Italian experimental musicians Contemporary classical music performers

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