Rhys Chatham (born September 19, 1952) is an American composer, guitarist, trumpet player, multi-instrumentalist (flutes in C, alto and bass, keyboard), primarily active in

avant-garde In the arts and literature, the term ''avant-garde'' ( meaning or ) identifies an experimental genre or work of art, and the artist who created it, which usually is aesthetically innovative, whilst initially being ideologically unacceptable ...

and minimalist music. He is best known for his "guitar orchestra" compositions. He has lived in France since 1987.

Early years

Chatham began his musical career as a piano tuner for avant-garde Minimalist composer

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 k ...

as well as

harpsichord A harpsichord is a musical instrument played by means of a musical keyboard, keyboard. Depressing a key raises its back end within the instrument, which in turn raises a mechanism with a small plectrum made from quill or plastic that plucks one ...

tuner for

Gustav Leonhardt Gustav Maria Leonhardt (30 May 1928 – 16 January 2012) was a Dutch keyboardist, conductor, musicologist, teacher and editor. He was a leading figure in the historically informed performance movement to perform music on period instruments. Leo ...

, Rosalyn Tureck and Glenn Gould. He studied

flute The flute is a member of a family of musical instruments in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, producing sound with a vibrating column of air. Flutes produce sound when the player's air flows across an opening. In th ...

under Sue Ann Kahn, with whom he first encountered

contemporary classical music Contemporary classical music is Western art music composed close to the present day. At the beginning of the 21st-century classical music, 21st century, it commonly referred to the post-1945 Modernism (music), post-tonal music after the death of ...

, and studied soon afterwards under

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 ...

pioneer

Morton Subotnick Morton Subotnick (born April 14, 1933) is an American composer of electronic music, best known for his 1967 composition '' Silver Apples of the Moon'', the first electronic work commissioned by a record company, Nonesuch. He was one of the fo ...

and minimalist icon La Monte Young. He was a member of Young's avant-garde group, '' Theatre of Eternal Music'' during the early seventies. Chatham also played with

Tony Conrad Anthony Schmalz Conrad (March 7, 1940 – April 9, 2016) was an American video artist, experimental filmmaker, musician, composer, sound artist, teacher, and writer. Active in a variety of media since the early 1960s, he was a pioneer of both ...

in an early version of Conrad's group, ''The Dream Syndicate''. In 1971, while still in his teens, Chatham became the first

music director A music director, musical director or director of music is a person responsible for the musical aspects of a performance, production, or organization. This would include the artistic director and usually chief conductor of an orchestra or concert ...

at the experimental art space The Kitchen in lower Manhattan. His early musical work, such as ''Two Gongs'' (1971) owes a significant debt to La Monte Young and other minimalists such as

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

and

Philip Glass Philip Glass (born January 31, 1937) is an American composer and pianist. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential composers of the late 20th century. Glass's work has been associated with minimal music, minimalism, being built up fr ...

Compositions from the late 1970s and early 1980s

By 1977, Chatham's music was heavily influenced by

punk rock Punk rock (also known as simply punk) is a rock music genre that emerged in the mid-1970s. Rooted in 1950s rock and roll and 1960s garage rock, punk bands rejected the corporate nature of mainstream 1970s rock music. They typically produced sh ...

, having seen an early

Ramones The Ramones were an American punk rock band formed in the New York City neighborhood Forest Hills, Queens in 1974. Known for helping establish the punk movement in the United States and elsewhere, the Ramones are often recognized as one of th ...

concert. He formed the

No Wave No wave was an avant-garde music genre and visual art scene that emerged in the late 1970s in Downtown New York City. The term was a pun based on the rejection of commercial new wave music. Reacting against punk rock's recycling of rock and r ...

groups Tone Death (that performed early versions of his ''Guitar Trio'') and The Gynecologists after being intrigued and influenced by the group of artists that music critics would label

in 1978. That year, he began performing ''Guitar Trio'' around downtown Manhattan with an ensemble that included

Glenn Branca Glenn Branca (October 6, 1948 – May 13, 2018) was an American avant-garde music, avant-garde composer, guitarist, and luthier. Known for his use of volume, scordatura, alternative guitar tunings, minimal music, repetition, drone (music), dronin ...

, as well as Nina Canal of Ut. During this period, he wrote several works for large guitar ensembles, including ''Drastic Classicism'', a collaboration with dancer Karole Armitage. ''Drastic Classicism'' was first released in 1982 on the compilation ''New Music from Antarctica'', put together by Kit Fitzgerald, John Sanborn and Peter Laurence Gordon. It was also included on the 1987 album that also included his 1982 composition ''Die Donnergötter'' (German for "''The Thundergods''"). In 1978, Artists Space served as a site of inception for the No Wave movement, hosting a five night underground No Wave music festival, organized by artists Michael Zwack and Robert Longo, that featured ten local bands; including Chatham's The Gynecologists and Tone Death. Members of the New York City

noise rock Noise rock (sometimes called noise punk) is a noise music, noise-oriented style of experimental rock that spun off from punk rock in the 1980s. Drawing on movements such as minimal music, minimalism, industrial music, and New York hardcore, a ...

band

Band of Susans Band of Susans was an American alternative rock No Wave band formed in New York City in 1986 and active until 1996. It originally consisted of Robert Poss (guitar/vocals), Susan Stenger (bass/vocals), Ron Spitzer (drums), with Susan Lyall (guit ...

began their careers in Chatham's ensembles; they later performed a cover of Chatham's "Guitar Trio" on their 1991 album, ''The Word and the Flesh''. (This parallels the way that members of fellow NYC noise rockers

Sonic Youth Sonic Youth were an American rock band formed in New York City in 1981. Founding members Kim Gordon (bass, vocals, guitar), Thurston Moore (lead guitar, vocals) and Lee Ranaldo (rhythm guitar, vocals) remained together for the entire history of ...

began their careers in Branca's ensembles;

Thurston Moore Thurston Joseph Moore (born July 25, 1958) is an American guitarist, singer and songwriter best known as a member of the rock band Sonic Youth. He has also participated in many solo and group collaborations outside Sonic Youth, as well as running ...

did play with Chatham as well.) Chatham began playing trumpet in 1983, studying under Carmine Curuso and Andrew Crocker, and his more recent works explore an early minimalist vocabulary employing loop and delay techniques for trumpet; these are performed by Chatham himself. Examples of this work can be heard on the album ''Outdoor Spell'', released by Northern Spy in 2011, and a recent duo album with

Charlemagne Palestine Chaim Moshe Tzadik Palestine (born August 15, 1947), known professionally as Charlemagne Palestine, is an American visual artist and musician. He has been described as being one of the founders of New York school of minimalist music, first initia ...

, entitled ''Youuu + Mee = Weee'', released on the Belgium SubRosa Label in 2014.

Recent activity

In 2002, he enjoyed a resurgence following the release of a limited-edition 3 CD retrospective box set on the record label Table of the Elements, ''An Angel Moves Too Fast to See: Selected Works 1971-1989'', complete with 130-page booklet. The ''An Angel Moves Too Fast to See'' part of the title comes from Chatham's 1989 composition for one hundred guitars. He has been since touring with his one-hundred guitar orchestra in Europe. In 2005, he was commissioned by the city of Paris, in his adopted homeland, to write a composition for 400 electric guitars entitled ''A Crimson Grail'', as part of the

Nuit Blanche Nuit Blanche () (White Night) is an annual all-night or night-time arts festival of a city. A Nuit Blanche typically has museums, private and public art galleries, and other cultural institutions open and free of charge, with the centre of the ...

Festival. Approximately 10,000 people were present at the performance, and 100,000 more watched it on live television. A CD of excerpts from this concert was released in January 2007 by Table of the Elements. Rhys Chatham was touring the original 30 minute version of ''Guitar Trio'' in the USA and Europe, renamed ''G3'' because the instrumentation had been increased to between six and ten electric guitars, electric bass and drums. In February 2007 he completed a twelve-city tour called the ''Guitar Trio (G3) Is My Life North America Tour'', which was accompanied by the original film by Robert Longo that was projected behind the performance, entitled ''Pictures for Music'' (1979). The sets consisted of local musicians from each city of the performances, including members of Sonic Youth,

Tortoise Tortoises ( ) are reptiles of the family Testudinidae of the order Testudines (Latin for "tortoise"). Like other turtles, tortoises have a shell to protect from predation and other threats. The shell in tortoises is generally hard, and like o ...

Godspeed You! Black Emperor Godspeed You! Black Emperor (sometimes abbreviated to GY!BE or Godspeed) is a Canadian post-rock collective that originated in Montreal, Quebec in 1994. The group releases recordings through Constellation Records (Canada), Constellation, an in ...

Hüsker Dü Hüsker Dü () was an American punk rock band formed in Saint Paul, Minnesota in 1979. The band's continuous members were guitarist/vocalist Bob Mould, bassist Greg Norton, and drummer/vocalist Grant Hart. They first gained notability as a hardc ...

, Brokeback, 90 Day Men, Town & Country, Die Kreuzen, Bird Show and others. A three-CD box set of these performances was released by Table of the Elements in March 2008. Rhys Chatham made his first American presentation of a composition for a one-hundred guitar orchestra in

Williamsport, Pennsylvania Williamsport is a city in and the county seat of Lycoming County, Pennsylvania, United States. As of the 2020 census, it had a population of 27,754. It is the principal city of the Williamsport Metropolitan Statistical Area, which has a populati ...

, on May 23, 2008, with an orchestra composed of local students and teachers, as well as many professional guitarists. This performance was the premiere of a new composition entitled ''Les 100 Guitares: G100''. The American premiere of ''A Crimson Grail'' was on August 8, 2008. Two-hundred electric guitarists performed the piece at the Damrosch Park Bandshell in New York City. The performance was part of a free concert series, Lincoln Center Out of Doors, that was being commissioned by the

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 ...

. But rain canceled the concert for safety reasons. For the 2009 premiere, precautions were taken so that the concert could go on even if it rained. Concurrent with his work for guitar orchestras and smaller ensembles, Chatham's trumpet style has evolved from its characteristic distorted sound of the 90s to its present more dreamy and laid back approach to playing the instrument, influenced by players such as Don Cherry and

Jon Hassell Jon Hassell (March 22, 1937 – June 26, 2021) was an American trumpet player and composer. He was best known for developing the concept of "Fourth World" music, which describes a "unified primitive/futurist sound" combining elements of various w ...

. Examples of this style can be heard on Chatham's releases, ''The Bern Project'', released by Hinterzimmer Records in 2010, and ''Outdoor Spell'', released in 2011 by Northern Spy. In 2023 Chatham and his

'' XS: The Opera Opus'' was featured at the Paris

Centre Pompidou The Centre Pompidou (), more fully the (), also known as the Pompidou Centre in English and colloquially as Beaubourg, is a building complex in Paris, France. It was designed in the style of high-tech architecture by the architectural team of ...

in a Nicolas Ballet curated exhibition entitled ''Who You Staring At: Visual culture of the no wave scene in the 1970s and 1980s''. A video documenting the Pompidou March 8 event ''XS: The Opera Opus: An Operatic Transvaluation of No Wave Aesthetics by

Joseph Nechvatal Joseph Nechvatal (born January 15, 1951) is an American post-conceptual digital artist and art theoretician who creates computer-assisted paintings and computer animations, often using custom computer viruses. Life and work Joseph Nechva ...

and Rhys Chatham'' was held and published online at the Pompidou website.
Projection and discussion of ''XS: The Opera Opus An Operatic Transvaluation of No Wave Aesthetics by Joseph Nechvatal and Rhys Chatham'' March 8, 2023

Discography

* ''Factor X'' (LP), Moers Music 1983 *: containing: ** ''For Brass'' (1982) ** ''Guitar Ring'' (1982) ** ''The Out of Tune Guitar'' (1982) ** ''Cadenza'' (1981) * ''Die Donnergötter'' (LP), Dossier Records (Europe)/Homestead Records (USA) 1987 Table of the Elements 2006 *: containing: ** ''Die Donnergötter'' (1984–86) ** ''Waterloo No. 2'' (1986) ** ''Guitar Trio'' (1977) ** ''Drastic Classicism'' (1982) * ''Neon'' (12", CDEP), Ntone 1997 *: All compositions in collaboration with Martin Wheeler. *: containing: ** ''Charm'' (1996) ** ''Ramatek'' (1994) ** ''Hornithology'' (1996) ** ''Neon'' (1993) * ''Septile'' (12", CD EP), Ntone 1997 *: All compositions in collaboration with Jonathan Kane & DJ Elated System. * ''Hardedge'', The Wire Editions 1999 *: Made in collaboration with Pat Thomas, Gary Smith, Gary Jeff, Lou Ciccotelli. * ''A Rhys Chatham Compendium'' (CD), Table of the Elements 2002 *: Limited-edition CD featuring selections and edits from the ''An Angel Moves Too Fast to See'' box-set. *: containing: ** ''An Angel Moves Too Fast to See'' (1989) dit** ''Guitar Trio'' (1977) dit** ''Drastic Classicism'' (1982) dit** ''Two Gongs'' (1971) dit** ''Guitar Cetet'' (1977) onus track not contained in box set** ''Waterloo, No. 2'' (1986) dit** ''Die Donnergötter'' (1985) omplete version* ''An Angel Moves Too Fast to See (Selected Works 1971-1989)'' (3xCD box set), Table of the Elements 2002 ** disc 1: *** ''Two Gongs'' (1971) ** disc 2: *** ''Die Donnergötter'' (1985) *** ''Waterloo, No. 2'' (1986) *** ''Drastic Classicism'' (1982) *** ''Guitar Trio'' (1977) *** ''Massacre on MacDougal Street'' (1982) ** disc 3: *** An Angel Moves Too Fast to See'' (1989) * ''Echo Solo'' (LP), Azoth Schallplatten Gesellschaft 2003 * ''Three Aspects of the Name'' (12"), Table of the Elements 2003 * ''An Angel Moves Too Fast to See (For 100 Electric Guitars, Electric Bass, and Drums)'' (LP, CD), Table of the Elements/Radium 2006 * ''Die Donnergötter'' (LP, CD), Table of the Elements/Radium 2006 *: containing: ** ''Die Donnergötter'' (1985/86) ** ''Waterloo, No. 2'' (1986) ** ''Drastic Classicism'' (1982) ** ''Guitar Trio'' (1977) ** ''Massacre on MacDougal Street'' (1982) * ''Two Gongs (1971)'' (CD), Table of the Elements 2006 * ''A Crimson Grail (For 400 Electric Guitars)'' (CD), Paris Version / Indoor Version, Table of the Elements 2007 * ''The Bern Project'' (CD), Hinterzimmer Records 2010 *: containing: ** ''War in Heaven'' (2009) ** ''A Rite for Samhain'' (2009) ** ''Scrying in Smoke'' (2009) ** ''My Lady of the Loire'' (2009) ** ''Is There Life After Guitar Trio'' (2009) ** ''Under the Petals of the Rose'' (2009) * ''A Crimson Grail (For 200 Electric Guitars)'' (CD), New York Version / Outdoor Version,

Nonesuch Records Nonesuch Records is an American record company and label owned by Warner Music Group, distributed by Warner Records (formerly Warner Bros. Records), and based in New York City. Founded by Jac Holzman in 1964 as a budget classical label, Nonesuch ...

2010 * ''Outdoor Spell'' (LP, CD), Northern-Spy (NS 004) 2011 *: containing: ** ''Outdoor Spell'' ** ''Crossing the Sword Bridge'' ** ''Corn Maiden's Rite'' ** ''The Magician'' * ''Rêve Parisien'' (LP), Primary Information 2011 * ''Harmonie du soir'' (LP, CD), Northern-Spy 2013 *: containing: ** ''Harmonie du soir'' ** ''Harmonie de Pontarlier: The Dream of Rhonabwy'' ** ''Drastic Classicism Revisited'' * ''Youuu + Mee = Weee'' (LP, CD),

Sub Rosa ''Sub rosa'' (Neo-Latin for "under the rose") is a Latin phrase which denotes secrecy or confidentiality. The rose has an ancient history as a symbol of secrecy. History In Hellenistic and later Roman mythology, roses were associated with secr ...

(SR637) 2014 *: All compositions in collaboration with Charlemagne Palestine. * ''Pythagorean Dream'' (LP, CD), Foom 2016 * ''What's Your Sign?'' (LP, CD), Northern Spy 2016 *: All compositions in collaboration with Oneida. *: containing: ** ''You Get Brighter'' ** ''Bad Brains'' ** ''Well Tuned Guitar'' ** ''The Mabinogian'' ** ''A. Philip Randlop at Back Bay Station'' ** ''Civil Weather'' * ''TomorrowStartsTonight'' (CD)
Klang Galerie
2023 (gg435) *: All compositions in collaboration with David Fenech. *: containing: ** ''In Search of Tomorrow'' ** ''Tomorrow Together'' ** ''Tomorrow Starts Tonight''

References

External links

The official Rhys Chatham web site

* * *
Trouser Press entry ( not comprehensive)

Reve Parisien excerpt from Primary Information

Review of ''Guitar Trio Is My Life''
on

Pitchfork Media ''Pitchfork'' (formerly ''Pitchfork Media'') is an American online music magazine founded in 1996 by Ryan Schreiber in Minneapolis. It originally covered Alternative rock, alternative and independent music, and expanded to cover genres includin ...

* (includes video)
''New York Times'' article about the American premiere of ''A Crimson Grail''
published on the ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' website, July 22, 2009 * Golden, Barbara. "Conversation with Rhys Chatham.
''eContact! 12.2 — Interviews (2)''
(April 2010). Montréal: CEC. * Rhys Chatham and

in discussion at the

School of Visual Arts The School of Visual Arts New York City (SVA NYC) is a private for-profit art school in New York City. It was founded in 1947 and is a member of the Association of Independent Colleges of Art and Design. History This school was started by Silas ...