# Morton Subotnick [Wikipedia Link](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morton_Subotnick) ( 1933 – ) ## Description American composer, best known for *Silver Apples of the Moon* (1967), the first electronic work commissioned by a record label (Nonesuch). Co-founded the [[San Francisco Tape Music Center]] with [[pauline oliveros|Pauline Oliveros]] and Ramon Sender in 1961–62, and was an early collaborator of synthesizer designer Don Buchla, whose modular voltage-controlled instrument Subotnick helped shape through suggestions on its sequencing capabilities. A founding faculty member of CalArts, where he built the school's interactive and multimedia composition program. ## Key Tags #sound #west-coast #institution-builder #apparatus-inventor ## Essential Works - *Silver Apples of the Moon* (1967) - first electronic work commissioned by a record company (Nonesuch); composed on Don Buchla's modular synthesizer; inducted into the National Recording Registry - *The Wild Bull* (1968) - second Nonesuch-commissioned electronic work, often paired with *Silver Apples of the Moon* - *Jacob's Room* (1986/2010) - multimedia chamber opera featuring video imagery by [[Steina & Woody Vasulka]] and singer [[Joan La Barbara]] ## Details Taught at Mills College in the early 1960s alongside fellow students Terry Riley, Steve Reich, and Pauline Oliveros; studied composition with Darius Milhaud and Leon Kirchner. Moved to New York in the late 1960s as founding music director of the Lincoln Center Repertory Company and artist-in-residence (with Len Lye) at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts, where the school's Buchla synthesizer (now held by the Library of Congress) became the instrument for *Silver Apples of the Moon*. In 1969 he helped found CalArts, serving as Associate Dean and then head of the composition program, where he later created a new-media program introducing interactive technology into the curriculum. Married to singer/composer Joan La Barbara. ### Concepts and Theories %% add concepts and theories he informed or extended %% ### Creative and Technical Practices - `[[Modular Synthesis]]` - %%helped shape Don Buchla's modular voltage-controlled synthesizer design through his own and Ramon Sender's suggestions, particularly its sequencing%% ### Collaborators - [[pauline oliveros|Pauline Oliveros]] - co-founder, San Francisco Tape Music Center (1961–62) - [[Joan La Barbara]] - wife and frequent collaborator; featured in *Jacob's Room* and other multimedia works - [[Steina & Woody Vasulka]] - video imagery for *Jacob's Room* (1993 premiere) - [[Len Lye]] - fellow artist-in-residence at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts - [[Charlemagne Palestine]] - student ### Institutional Affiliations and Associated Movements - [[San Francisco Tape Music Center]] - co-founder, 1961–62, with Pauline Oliveros and Ramon Sender - California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) - founding faculty, 1969; Associate Dean, then head of composition ## References ### Primary Sources Bibliography Subotnick, Morton. *Silver Apples of the Moon*. Nonesuch Records, 1967. First electronic work commissioned by a record company; National Recording Registry inductee. ### Secondary Sources Bibliography Bernstein, David W., editor. *The San Francisco Tape Music Center: 1960s Counterculture and the Avant-Garde*. University of California Press, 2008. Institutional history covering Subotnick's role as co-founder.