-- James Tenney 1934-2006 Inbox
David Rosenboom
<david@xxxxxxxxxxx> to Tenney.Announc.
More options 4:59 pm (26 minutes ago)
Dear Friends and Colleagues,
I write both to communicate sad news about the passing of our esteemed
and revered colleague, composer, James Tenney, and to begin an
invocation to celebrate the boundlessly creative spirit and uniquely
productive life of a great musical artist. Jim died peacefully late
Thursday night, August 24th, 2006 after a difficult battle with
cancer. His tenacity in life and his determined, affirming energy
never wavered. His keenly focused composing and theoretical work
continued nearly to his last moments. During recent years at CalArts,
Jim taught the works of composers he referred to as American musical
mavericks. Clearly he was also one of the greats among them. History
will remember him as a vitally significant American artist. Jim was a
faculty member in the School of Music in the early 1970s when CalArts
was finding footing as a somewhat maverick arts institution, and he
returned later in the 1990s to assume the Roy E. Disney Family Chair
in Musical Composition. In the interim, he taught at the University of
California at Santa Cruz and York University, in Toronto. Jim's mere
presence on campus was always inspiring, touching countless lives over
the years. A master teacher, treasured by so many, he was also a close
personal friend and often collaborator over at least three decades. He
will be greatly missed, and we will continue to celebrate the
continuity, the power, and the encouraging, constructive quality of
his influence, along with his devotion to the forward evolution of
music as an essential force in the life of all human kind.
A brief memorial service will be held in Roy O. Disney Recital Hall at
CalArts on Monday, August 28th, 2006 at 11:00 AM. A concert
celebrating Tenney's life and work will be planned for later in the
fall.
A brief biography of Tenney can be found at:
http://www.calarts.edu/schools/music/faculty/tenney.html
David Rosenboom, Composer/Performer
Dean, School of Music
California Institute of the Arts