George E. Cacioppo, American composer, was bom in Monroe, Michigan on September 24, 1926, and died in Ann Arbor, Michigan on April 8, 1984. He studied with Ross Lee Finney at the University of Michigan and obtained his B.Mus. in 1951 and M.Mus. in 1952. Subsequently, he worked at Tanglewood and was awarded a Koussevitsky grant for study with Leon Kirchner in 1959. In 1960 he studied privately with Roberto Gerhard in Ann Arbor.
In 1961 Cacioppo co-founded the ONCE group and was an active organizer of and participant in the ONCE Festival from 1961 to 1968. The ONCE group produced annual concerts of premieres by both established and avant garde composers. The festivals established Ann Arbor as an international center of avant garde music in the sixties.
Cacioppo worked as a studio engineer at the WUOM radio station. He also occasionally taught composition at the University of Michigan School of Music. His works are published by BMI Canada, Percussion Music Inc. (N.Y.), and Berandol Press (Toronto, Canada).
Cacioppo was one of the first composers to explore the aesthetic known as "piece as process" with indeterminate notation: a composition unfolds anew each time it is performed. His interest in astronomy was reflected in many of his compositions, including one of his most famous compositions, Cassiopeia (1962). The piece is in indeterminate notation, based on the shape of the constellation Cassiopeia. His works are performed nationwide in new music concerts.
From the guide to the George Cacioppo papers, 1939-1985, (Bentley Historical Library, University of Michigan)
