Hiller, Lejaren, 1924-1994

Lejaren Hiller was born on February 23, 1924, in New York City. He received his B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. in chemistry from Princeton University, where he also studied music theory and composition with Milton Babbitt and Roger Sessions. In 1958, Hiller received his M.Mus. from the University of Illinois where he founded the Experimental Music Studio. In 1957, Hiller collaborated with Leonard Isaacson on the Illiac Suite, the first significant use of a computer in composition. The Illiac Suite (String Quartet No. 4) was so named for the Illiac computer on which the calculations for the score parameters were made. Hiller was able to tap the power of the Illiac for the generation and selection of large quantities of random values in a fundamental type of stochastic modeling known as "the Monte Carlo Method." Lejaren Hiller's importance to the field of computer music cannot be over-emphasized. His work on the use of computers for the generation of musical parameters such as pitch, rhythm, duration, etc. in pieces of music using traditional instruments, opened a door to new methods of music material generation and simultaneously to the computer-assisted analysis of the process of music composition.

From the description of Lejaren Hiller Collection of Compositional Flow Charts, circa 1968-1987. (SUNY at Buffalo). WorldCat record id: 502393913

Lejaren Arthur Hiller (1924- ), chemist turned composer and teacher, composed the ILLIAC SUITE in 1957, the first significant computer music. In 1958 he organized the Experimental Music Studio at the University of Illinois, which he directed until 1968; that year he became a member of the State University of New York at Buffalo Music Department faculty and co-director of the Center of the Creative and Performing Arts. Hiller retired for health reasons in 1989.

From the description of Papers, 1946- . (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 122610473

Jean V. Cutler (1927 -2010) choreographer, director, and Professor of Theater was born in Hampton, Virginia, in 1927. Performing at an early age, Cutler developed an enduring interest in film and experimental theater, including poetic theater, surrealism and futurism. He received his B.A. in English from Lynchburg College in 1955 and earned a M.A. (1959) and Ph.D. (1962) in Speech at the University of Illinois, submitting a dissertation titled "Realism in Augustin Daly's Productions of Contemporary Plays." As a student, Cutler staged premieres of avant-garde works by former School of Music faculty Kenneth Gaburo, an electronic music pioneer, and Lejaren Hiller, a founder of computer music at the University of Illinois, including Hiller's "Blue is the Antecedent of It" and "Cuthbert Bound." During this period, he also choreographed two works--"Revelation in the Courthouse Park" and "Water! Water!"--by innovative composer Harry Partch.

After completing his doctorate, Cutler became an instructor at the University of Oregon, where he taught and served as the University Theater Director. Cutler returned to Urbana in 1968 to develop "Web," a work about the playwright Web Smalley that was the second in a series of films about the creative process in the performing arts. In the spring of 1970, Cutler produced and directed Kenneth Gaburo's "LINGUA III: In the Can (a dialectic mix in 3 rounds)" at the University of Oregon Theater Workshop. Cutler also interviewed Harry Partch during the early 1970s with the intention of making a film, "The End of Life is Perception," that was never finished. After retiring from the University of Oregon in 1980, Cutler continued to direct and participate in the theater community. Between 1983 and 1986, he organized a professional theater company in Washington, D.C., and directed several plays. During the 1990s, he participated in North Carolina's visiting artist program at Mitchell College and Forsyth Technical Community College.

From the guide to the Jean Cutler Theatrical Films, Audio Recordings and Papers, 1959-1995, (The Sousa Archives and Center for American Music)