
Sad news in via vgermuse:
"I just received an email letting me know that Allen Strange passed away yesterday in Seattle. What a deep loss on so many fronts."
You might remember that Allen Strange recently had to cancel a performance in the Seattle area due to
illness. If you do not know who Allen Strange is and his impact to the world of synthesizers, read
this short bio (source of image and excerpt below) and then take a look at
these previous posts; be sure to check out all the links to more info. He was a pioneer of electronic music and wrote a number of books on the subject. This is a sad day.
The following is a brief excerpt of his accomplishments:
"He received two grants from the San Jose State University Foundation (1969 and 1974) for research into electronic music and in 1970 became professor of music and director of the electronic music studios at the university. In 1973 he attended Chowning's music seminar at Stanford University Artificial Intelligence Center. Strange is one of the leading authorities on analogue electronic music; his Electronic Music: Systems, Techniques, and Controls (1972) is now a classic text. He also wrote Programming and Meta-Programming the Electro-Organism (1974), the operations manual for the Buchla Music Easel and has documented the 200 Series synthesizers made by Buchla. He co-founded two performance groups, Biome (1967--72), in order to make use of the EMS Synthi, and, with Buchla in 1974, the Electronic Weasel Ensemble. He was president of the International Computer Music Association (1993--8) and has appeared as a guest artist-lecturer throughout the world. With his wife, Patricia, they have recently published The Contemporary Violin: Extended Performance Techniques."
Update via Robin in the comments:
"From the Family of Allen Strange.
Just wanted to thank you all for your kind words. Allen will always be remembered as a loving father, husband and musician. There will be a memorial reception at the Bainbridge Island Music Guild on March 1st at 4 pm. Directions and information can be found at
http://www.islandmusic.org/. We are also planning a life celebration for Allen in the Bay Area of California in the next few months, I will be sure to post that info when it gets planned."
Update via the comments:
"The Family of Allen Strange is having a memorial celebration in San Jose on September 13. For more information please see: http://www.allenstrange.com/ and if you plan on attending please RSVP at http://allenstrange.blogspot.com/
-Robin Strange"