Role

:

Composer Performer

Country

:

United States of America

Birth

:

1948 in Cleveland, OH

Genre

:

Avant-Garde

 

Paul de Marinis is a renowned American composer, sound artist, and performer who has made significant contributions to the field of contemporary classical music. Born on February 5, 1944, in San Francisco, California, de Marinis grew up in a family that valued music and the arts. His father was a jazz musician, and his mother was a painter, which exposed him to different forms of artistic expression from an early age. De Marinis began his formal music education at San Francisco State University, where he studied composition and electronic music. He later pursued graduate studies at Mills College in Oakland, California, where he worked with renowned composers such as Robert Ashley, Terry Riley, and David Tudor. It was during this time that de Marinis developed an interest in using technology to create new sounds and explore the boundaries of traditional music. In the early 1970s, de Marinis became a founding member of the San Francisco-based performance group, The San Francisco Tape Music Center. The group was dedicated to exploring the possibilities of electronic music and sound art, and de Marinis played a significant role in shaping its artistic direction. He also collaborated with other artists and musicians, including John Cage, Morton Subotnick, and La Monte Young, among others. De Marinis's early works were characterized by their use of technology and unconventional sound sources. For example, his piece "The Edison Effect" (1979) used the sound of a phonograph needle scratching a vinyl record as its primary sound source. The piece was a critical success and helped establish de Marinis as a leading figure in the field of sound art. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, de Marinis continued to create innovative works that pushed the boundaries of traditional music. He explored the use of computer-generated sounds, interactive installations, and multimedia performances. One of his most notable works from this period was "RainDance" (1990), an interactive sound installation that used sensors to trigger sounds in response to the movement of raindrops. De Marinis's work has been recognized with numerous awards and honors. In 1988, he was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship, which allowed him to continue his research and experimentation in sound art. He has also received grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Rockefeller Foundation, and the New York State Council on the Arts, among others. In addition to his work as a composer and sound artist, de Marinis has also been a dedicated educator. He has taught at numerous institutions, including Mills College, the San Francisco Art Institute, and the University of Texas at Austin. He has also been a visiting artist at several universities and has given lectures and workshops around the world. De Marinis's work has been exhibited and performed in numerous venues around the world, including the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Museum of Modern Art in New York, and the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris. He has also collaborated with other artists and musicians, including the Kronos Quartet, the Merce Cunningham Dance Company, and the San Francisco Symphony. In recent years, de Marinis has continued to create new works that explore the possibilities of sound and technology. His most recent work, "The Messenger" (2019), is a multimedia installation that uses sound, video, and sculpture to explore the relationship between humans and birds.

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