Julius Eastman

From Wind Repertory Project
Julius Eastman

Biography

Julius Eastman (27 October 1940, New York – 28 May 1990, Buffalo, N.Y,) was an American musician and artist.

Julius Eastman was an artist who, as a gay black man, aspired to live those roles to the fullest. He was not only a prominent member of New York's downtown scene as a composer, conductor, singer, pianist, and choreographer, but also performed at Lincoln Center with Pierre Boulez and the New York Philharmonic, and recorded experimental disco with producer Arthur Russell. "Eastman is something of a cult figure among composers and singers," reads a 1980 press release.

Despite his prominence in the artistic and musical community in New York, Eastman died homeless and alone in a Buffalo, New York, hospital, his death unreported until eight months later, in a Village Voice obituary by Kyle Gann. He left behind few scores and recordings, and his music lay dormant for decades until a three-CD set of his compositions was issued in 2005 by New World Records. In the years since, there has been a steady increase in attention paid to his music and life, punctuated by newly found recordings and manuscripts, the publication of Gay Guerrilla, a comprehensive volume of biographical essays and analysis, worldwide performances and new arrangements of his surviving works, and newfound interest from choreographers, scholars, educators, and journalists. "The brazen and brilliant music of Julius Eastman...commands attention: wild, grand, delirious, demonic, an uncontainable personality surging into sound," writes Alex Ross for The New Yorker.


Works for Winds

Most of Eastman's works are open score and can be performed by any ensemble of similar instruments or voices. Please note that many of his works (not listed here) have deliberately provocative titles.


Resources