He had a foot in both camps.”Įastman died alone of cardiac arrest at the age of 49 in Millard Fillmore Hospital in Buffalo. “Not only had Julius left the protective and nurturing environment of Buffalo, but in New York the divisions between the Uptown and Downtown music scene were more evident, and Julius was caught between both worlds. nce he left Buffalo, the tone of the titles of his pieces started to change, from The Moon's Silent Modulation (1970) to If You're So Smart, Why Aren't You Rich (1977), Evil Nigger(1979), etc.,” notes author/composer/performer Mary Jane Leach in The Julius Eastman Project. in legendary scandals like his June performance of John Cages Song Books.
Making bold social statements through composition, he embodied the environment of Western New York’s vital experimental and multi-disciplinary art scene. Composer-performer Julius Eastman was an enigma, both comfortable and. Eastman also wrote compositions for ensembles and/or instruments that he didn't play. While in Buffalo, Eastman performed and toured in works by many of the most prominent contemporary composers in the nation, as well as performing his own pieces. Eastman was one of approximately 120 musicians that came to Buffalo as a Creative Associate until the program's close in 1980.Įastman’s usage of provocative words and performances, notably his 1975 participation in a John Cage piece during the inaugural June in Buffalo Festival in which he made sexual comments about his male and female assistants on stage, was not only to rile audience members, but also make important comments on America’s conservative social and economic stance during an era of non-inclusion and bigotry that plagued the African American and LGBTQ communities. Ensemble explored its past, focusing on the music of John Cage, Julius Eastman and Morton Feldman, all of whom had long relationships with the ensemble. In 1968 he moved to Buffalo, N.Y., where he was a member of the Center of the Creative and Performing Arts (A.K.A the Creative Associates), a SUNY Buffalo music fellowship program founded in 1964 by Lukas Foss and Alan Sapp. After a year of piano study at Ithaca College, he was accepted at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia in 1959. These episodes are examples of Eastman's persistence in pushing the limits of the acceptable in. Born in Harlem Hospital in New York City, he trained as a pianist and choirboy while growing up in Ithaca, N.Y. Eastman tested limits with his political aggressiveness, as reflected in legendary scandals like his June 1975 performance of John Cage's Song Books, which featured homoerotic interjections, and the uproar over his titles at Northwestern University. Julius Eastman was a composer, vocalist, pianist, choreographer, and dancer.
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