Elliott Carter (1908-2012)

Elliott Carter (1908-2012)

Virgil Blackwell has confirmed that Elliott Carter died this afternoon in New York. Just a little over a month shy of his 104th birthday, Carter (1908-2012) was writing music almost up to the end of his life.

Written By

Frank J. Oteri

Frank J. Oteri is an ASCAP-award winning composer and music journalist. Among his compositions are Already Yesterday or Still Tomorrow for orchestra, the "performance oratorio" MACHUNAS, the 1/4-tone sax quartet Fair and Balanced?, and the 1/6-tone rock band suite Imagined Overtures. His compositions are represented by Black Tea Music. Oteri is the Vice President of the International Society for Contemporary Music (ISCM) and is Composer Advocate at New Music USA where he has been the Editor of its web magazine, NewMusicBox.org, since its founding in 1999.

Elliott Carter

Elliott Carter at 90. (From the NewMusicBox archives)

Virgil Blackwell has confirmed that Elliott Carter died this afternoon in New York. Just a little over a month shy of his 104th birthday, Carter (1908-2012) was writing music almost up to the end of his life, composing more than 50 new works since we spoke to him for NewMusicBox shortly after his 90th birthday. Four years ago, Phil Lesh of The Grateful Dead (a longtime Carter fan) talked
with Carter for Counterstream Radio. Later this week there will be a memorial to Carter by his one-time student and lifelong friend Joel Chadabe.