Human Ear Music

Michael Pisaro

Guitarist and composer Michael Pisaro has created over 80 works for a great variety of instrumental combinations, including several pieces for variable instrumentation. Before joining the composition faculty at the California Institute of the Arts (where he is located presently), he taught music composition and theory at Northwestern University from 1986 to 2000. Remarkable and unprecedented in its often novel use of silence, duration, and structure; his work is regarded by many as the most important recent work in the experimental tradition.

Newcomers to his work frequently describe transformative effects on their awareness of time, self and auditory perception. Janet Kim, Jason Grier, John Maus and Julia Holter count themselves among the many Human Ear Music associated artists who have been enlightened by their experience of his music.

His work is frequently performed in the U.S. and in Europe, in music festivals and in many smaller venues. It has been selected twice by the ISCM jury for performance at World Music Days festivals (Copenhagen, Manchester) and has also been part of festivals in Hong Kong (ICMC), Vienna (Wien Modern), Aspen and Chicago (New Music Chicago).

He has performed many of his own works and those of close associates Antoine Beuger, Kunsu Shim, Jürg Frey and Manfred Werder, as well as works from the experimental tradition, especially John Cage, Christian Wolff, Robert Ashley and George Brecht.