Otto Luening

Full biography Otto Luening

Otto Luening was an American composer, conductor, and composition teacher, born on June 15, 1900, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He was an important figure in the development of electronic music in the mid-20th century. Otto Luening began his music career as a flutist, earning degrees from the Eastman School of Music and the Curtis Institute of Music. He also studied composition with composer Edgar Varèse.

In addition to his work with traditional instruments, Luening was a pioneer in the field of electronic music. He co-founded the Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center in 1958 with fellow composer Vladimir Ussachevsky, and together they helped to develop a new style of music that combined electronic sounds with traditional instruments.

Over the course of his career, Luening composed a wide range of music, including orchestral works, chamber music, operas, and songs. He was also a prolific writer and lecturer on music, and he wrote a comprehensive autobiography, "The Odyssey of an American Composer," in 1980.

Luening received many awards and honors for his work, including a Guggenheim Fellowship and a Rockefeller Foundation Grant. He was also a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters and the National Institute of Arts and Letters.

In addition to his work as a composer, Luening was also a respected composition teacher. He taught at Columbia University and the Manhattan School of Music, among other institutions. His students included Jack Beeson, Charles Wuorinen, and Harvey Sollberger, among others.

Otto Luening passed away on September 2, 1996, in New York City, leaving behind a legacy of influential compositions and groundbreaking work in the field of electronic music.