Andrew Culver (born August 30, 1953) is a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

- American composer and software entrepreneur. Culver's works have included chamber and orchestral music, electronic and computer music, sound sculpture and music sculpture, film, lighting, text pieces, and installations. He performs concerts with sound sources of his own invention that are based on the

tensegrity Tensegrity, tensional integrity or floating compression is a structural principle based on a system of isolated components under compression inside a network of continuous tension, and arranged in such a way that the compressed members (usual ...

structural principle as elaborated by

Buckminster Fuller Richard Buckminster Fuller (; July 12, 1895 – July 1, 1983) was an American architect, systems theorist, writer, designer, inventor, philosopher, and futurist. He styled his name as R. Buckminster Fuller in his writings, publishing m ...

, a lifelong influence.

Career

Culver worked as John Cage’s creative assistant for 11 years, and was involved in all aspects of Cage’s musical, poetic, operatic and film work. He wrote the chance operations and compositional process software Cage used during that period, and directed Cage's

operas Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a libre ...

, sound and light installations. He continued directing Cage installations and operas after the composer’s death, including posthumous premieres. Culver was the founding member of Sonde, a music design and ensemble that grew out of

McGill University McGill University (french: link=no, Université McGill) is an English-language public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1821 by royal charter granted by King George IV,Frost, Stanley Brice. ''McGill Universit ...

. Culver’s interests are varied in concept, technique and media. He has created and/or directed work in a wide variety of performance, theatrical, electronic, computer, audio-visual, sculptural and installation situations. He has written on art, music and anarchy since the 70’s, for publications such as the Montreal Star, Musicworks, and Circuit. He has developed software and database structures and invented or developed a variety of formal, structural, time, pitch and microtonal systems. Culver's largest work is ''Ocean 1—133'' (1994, 2006), the orchestral component of ''Ocean'', which was conceived by John Cage and

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 ...

, with choreography by

, electronic music by

David Tudor David Eugene Tudor (January 20, 1926 – August 13, 1996) was an American pianist and composer of experimental music. Life and career Tudor was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He studied piano with Irma Wolpe and composition with Stefan ...

, and design by Marsha Skinner. David Tudor provided and performed (before his death) the electronic music component, and artist Marsha Skinner, the lighting and costumes. The work is big: 90 minutes for 150 soloists in the round, without a conductor. It has been performed some 60 times, at

Lincoln Center Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts (also simply known as Lincoln Center) is a complex of buildings in the Lincoln Square neighborhood on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. It has thirty indoor and outdoor facilities and is host to 5 millio ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

La Fenice Teatro La Fenice (, "The Phoenix") is an opera house in Venice, Italy. It is one of "the most famous and renowned landmarks in the history of Italian theatre" and in the history of opera as a whole. Especially in the 19th century, La Fenice bec ...

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 bridges. The isla ...

, in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingd ...

, Berkeley, Montpelier and Japan,

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

and

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at th ...

. Culver describes the work by saying, "There is no score. There's 150 solo parts. Everyone is a soloist." Culver is the Founder and co-

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especiall ...

of iLiv, a software and services company. Culver also writes about

music Music is generally defined as the The arts, art of arranging sound to create some combination of Musical form, form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise Musical expression, expressive content. Exact definition of music, definitions of mu ...

, art, and

anarchy Anarchy is a society without a government. It may also refer to a society or group of people that entirely rejects a set hierarchy. ''Anarchy'' was first used in English in 1539, meaning "an absence of government". Pierre-Joseph Proudhon adopte ...

. He is the founder of Anarchic Harmony Foundation, a non-profit organization that funds and manages projects in the fields of

opera Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a libre ...

multimedia Multimedia is a form of communication that uses a combination of different content forms such as text, audio, images, animations, or video into a single interactive presentation, in contrast to tradi ...

, etc. He is the

inventor An invention is a unique or novel device, method, composition, idea or process. An invention may be an improvement upon a machine, product, or process for increasing efficiency or lowering cost. It may also be an entirely new concept. If an id ...

of the Anarchic Philharmonic.

References

1953 births Living people 20th-century classical composers 20th-century American composers 20th-century American male musicians 20th-century Canadian composers 21st-century classical composers 21st-century American composers 21st-century American male musicians American classical composers American male classical composers American writers about music Canadian classical composers Canadian writers about music Experimental composers {{US-composer-20thC-stub