Composer. He was the dean of West Coast classical composers and one of America's most colorful and important musical mavericks. At age 10 he wrote his first piano piece. Harrison represented the last in line of 20th-century American individualist composers. He pioneered world music, and he was amoung the first composers to create all-percussion pieces and to integrate the musical traditions and instruments of Asia and the West. His catalog includes four symphonies, two operas and a long list of ballets, concertos, choral pieces, solo and chamber works. But he is best known for the works that cannot be readily categorized, particularly those intended for an international gamut of percussion instruments. Harrison also taught at San Jose State University and Mills College in Oakland, Ca. He promoted the international language of Esperanto, and he was an outspoken advocate for peace.
Composer. He was the dean of West Coast classical composers and one of America's most colorful and important musical mavericks. At age 10 he wrote his first piano piece. Harrison represented the last in line of 20th-century American individualist composers. He pioneered world music, and he was amoung the first composers to create all-percussion pieces and to integrate the musical traditions and instruments of Asia and the West. His catalog includes four symphonies, two operas and a long list of ballets, concertos, choral pieces, solo and chamber works. But he is best known for the works that cannot be readily categorized, particularly those intended for an international gamut of percussion instruments. Harrison also taught at San Jose State University and Mills College in Oakland, Ca. He promoted the international language of Esperanto, and he was an outspoken advocate for peace.
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