Biography
The compositions of African American creator Julius Eastman have enjoyed growing attention in the years following his passing in 1990. As one of the first openly gay Black musicians working in composition during the 1970s, he stood out for blending free jazz and popular idioms into a minimalist framework.
Eastman entered the world in New York City on October 27, 1940, though his childhood unfolded in Ithaca, New York. At age fourteen he began piano studies and advanced quickly, enrolling first at Ithaca College before transferring to Philadelphia’s Curtis Institute of Music. There he trained in piano under Mieczyslaw Horszowski and in composition with Constant Vauclain. Midway through his time at Curtis he changed his focus from performance to writing, yet he continued appearing as a pianist, most notably at Town Hall in New York in 1966. He also sang, committing Peter Maxwell Davies’s Eight Songs for a Mad King to disc for Nonesuch in 1973. With support from Lukas Foss—who led performances of several Eastman scores—he joined the faculty at the State University of New York at Buffalo to teach theory and composition. He participated in the Creative Associates program and helped establish the S.E.M. Ensemble alongside Petr Kotik. A 1975 staging of John Cage’s Song Books that introduced homoerotic content drew sharp criticism, including from Cage himself, prompting Eastman’s departure from Buffalo.
Once settled back in New York City, he moved between the city’s conventional classical circles and its experimental downtown community. His most active period stretched across the late 1970s and early 1980s. During these years he often assigned works confrontational titles, Gay Guerrilla among them, while extending minimalism through references to pop and to the free-jazz language associated with saxophonist Ornette Coleman. He is now viewed as an early exponent of postminimalism. Eastman characterized his own pieces as organic forms that unfolded from material presented at the outset. Recognition arrived both locally and farther afield; in 1986 choreographer Molissa Fenley incorporated his music alongside that of Philip Glass into the dance Geologic Moments. Persistent professional setbacks nevertheless left him discouraged, and he turned to substance abuse. Periods of homelessness followed, including time spent in Tompkins Square Park; an eviction also resulted in the loss of numerous manuscripts. Cardiac arrest claimed his life in Buffalo on May 28, 1990. The event drew little notice at the time, though critic Kyle Gann published one of the scant obituaries eight months afterward. Eastman’s catalog remained largely dormant until fresh performances surfaced in the late 2010s, and by 2021 more than ten works had appeared on record. That year the Los Angeles ensemble Wild Up released a version of Femenine that U.S. National Public Radio later listed among its top classical albums.
Eastman entered the world in New York City on October 27, 1940, though his childhood unfolded in Ithaca, New York. At age fourteen he began piano studies and advanced quickly, enrolling first at Ithaca College before transferring to Philadelphia’s Curtis Institute of Music. There he trained in piano under Mieczyslaw Horszowski and in composition with Constant Vauclain. Midway through his time at Curtis he changed his focus from performance to writing, yet he continued appearing as a pianist, most notably at Town Hall in New York in 1966. He also sang, committing Peter Maxwell Davies’s Eight Songs for a Mad King to disc for Nonesuch in 1973. With support from Lukas Foss—who led performances of several Eastman scores—he joined the faculty at the State University of New York at Buffalo to teach theory and composition. He participated in the Creative Associates program and helped establish the S.E.M. Ensemble alongside Petr Kotik. A 1975 staging of John Cage’s Song Books that introduced homoerotic content drew sharp criticism, including from Cage himself, prompting Eastman’s departure from Buffalo.
Once settled back in New York City, he moved between the city’s conventional classical circles and its experimental downtown community. His most active period stretched across the late 1970s and early 1980s. During these years he often assigned works confrontational titles, Gay Guerrilla among them, while extending minimalism through references to pop and to the free-jazz language associated with saxophonist Ornette Coleman. He is now viewed as an early exponent of postminimalism. Eastman characterized his own pieces as organic forms that unfolded from material presented at the outset. Recognition arrived both locally and farther afield; in 1986 choreographer Molissa Fenley incorporated his music alongside that of Philip Glass into the dance Geologic Moments. Persistent professional setbacks nevertheless left him discouraged, and he turned to substance abuse. Periods of homelessness followed, including time spent in Tompkins Square Park; an eviction also resulted in the loss of numerous manuscripts. Cardiac arrest claimed his life in Buffalo on May 28, 1990. The event drew little notice at the time, though critic Kyle Gann published one of the scant obituaries eight months afterward. Eastman’s catalog remained largely dormant until fresh performances surfaced in the late 2010s, and by 2021 more than ten works had appeared on record. That year the Los Angeles ensemble Wild Up released a version of Femenine that U.S. National Public Radio later listed among its top classical albums.
Albums
Singles
