Glenn Branca

Glenn Branca frequently built his works around four or more heavily amplified guitars supported by a rhythm section of drums and bass rooted in rock conventions. Later pieces expanded the instrumentation to include mallet guitar, keyboards, and sometimes a second drummer. Many of his minimalist scores called for unconventional guitar tunings, among them certain works that employed two sets of three strings tuned an octave apart. Several prominent experimental guitarists from downtown New York City passed through his ensembles, among them Thurston Moore and Lee Ranaldo of Sonic Youth. Branca studied performing arts at Emerson College in Boston. During the 1970s a large share of his output was written for experimental theater and realized by his groups Theoretical Girls and Static. In the following decade the Glenn Branca Ensemble presented the symphonies that formed the core of his reputation. Commissions arrived from organizations that included the Twyla Tharp Dance Company, the Brooklyn Academy of Music, and Bang on a Can. His music also appeared in films and productions by Peter Greenaway, the Alvin Ailey Dance Company, the Joffrey Ballet, Eric Bogosian, and others. The Barbican Centre in London presented his twelfth guitar symphony in 1998. Traditional symphony orchestras that performed his works included the London Sinfonietta, the Minnesota Opera Orchestra, and the Graz Festival Orchestra. Branca died in Manhattan in May 2018 at the age of 69.