Archivio Conz

Alvin Lucier (1931 Nashua, New Hampshire, USA–2021 Middletown, Connecticut, USA) was a pivotal figure in the development of experimental music, producing several seminal compositions that greatly influenced sound arts. Lucier investigated acoustic perception through his recordings and sound installations, frequently working on interference, resonance, and transmission phenomena. In 1966, along with Robert Ashley, David Behrman, and Gordon Mumma, Lucier cofounded the Sonic Art Union, a collective of experimental musicians. The group toured extensively for a decade, performing together but, more notably, presenting individual works. I am Sitting in a Room (1969), one of Lucier’s most significant works, is focused on distinct frequencies and physical qualities of sound. The piece gradually unfolds by recording and then repeatedly re-recording a short statement within the same room until it becomes an impenetrable and unrecognizable resonance. Lucier taught Music Composition for over thirty years at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut. He was presented with the Lifetime Achievement Award of the Society for Electro-Acoustic Music in the United States, received an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Plymouth, England (2007), and was honored by the Issue Project Room in Brooklyn in 2018.