Shere, Charles

Charles Shere (b. Berkeley, CA 20 Aug 1935). Composer. He attended the University of California, Berkeley (BA in English Literature, 1960), studied composition with Luciano Berio and Robert Erickson, conducting with Gerhard Samuel. He was director for the radio station KPFA, Berkeley (1967-74) and produced music programs for KQED, San Francisco (1967-74). From 1973 to 1978 he edited and published Ear, a monthly magazine devoted to avant-garde music. Shere received many commissions from Bay Area music groups and was awarded a NEA grant for composition in 1978.

Biography

Shere, Charles (b Berkeley, CA, 20 Aug 1935). Composer. He attended the University of California, Berkeley (BA in English literature, 1960), and then studied composition with Luciano Berio at Mills College, Oakland, and with Robert Erickson at the San Francisco Conservatory and privately, and conducting with Gerhard Samuel. He was music director for the radio station KPFA, Berkeley (1967-74), and later produced music programs for KQED, San Francisco (1967-1974). From 1973 to 1984 he lectured in composition and the history of music at Mills College. Admired as a writer, he was from 1972 music and art critic for the Oakland Tribune and from 1973 to 1978 edited and published Ear, a monthly magazine devoted to avant-garde music. His continuting interest in art led Shere to write and produce television programs on the artists Marcel Duchamp and Georgia O'Keefe, among others; he also lectures frequently on art and has done scholarly research on West Coast painting. Shere has received commisions from the San Francisco Comtemporary Music Players, and the Arch Ensemble, Berkeley, and in 1978 was awarded a composition grant by the NEA.

Shere's music is rooted in the experimentalism of the 1960's and owes something to Cage and Stockhausen in its technical procedures. But the principal creative model for him is Duchamp, whose perceptual conundrums and whimsical arcana are reflected in many of Shere's scores, especially his "Duchamp opera," The Bride Stripped Bare by her Bachelors, Even (1964-; planned premiere 1986). Tongues (1978), and extended essay in glossolalia for chamber ensemble and speaker/singer, typifies his deft blend of wit, lyricism, and complex verbal and musical symbolism.

[From The New Grove Dictionary of American Music] .