|  On
hearing the news of Lou Harrison's death on February 2, 2003 at the age
of 85, Anthony Tommasini wrote in the New York Times that Harrison was "a beloved West Coast composer, a genuine American maverick, a pioneer
in the synthesis of Asian and Western music and a father figure to musicians
in the region."
The previous week, The Juilliard
School had celebrated Harrison's 85th birthday with its Focus Festival.
Works by Harrison ranged from cello solo to full orchestra, and the series
of concerts gathered other composers from the western United States, many
of whom were influenced, and encouraged, by Harrison.
Almost everyone who met Lou
has a story to tell, and a web site has been set up by Charles Amirkhanian
for people to post their remembrances: http://www.otherminds.org/shtml/Irememberlou.shtm
Click here
for Mark Swed's appreciation of Harrison in the Los Angeles Times. |
