Hans Joachim Koellreutter was born in 1915 in the Black Forest, Germany. He lived with Picasso in Paris, played with Darius Milhaud, studied with Paul Hindemith, Kurt Thomas, Hermann Scherchen and Marcel Moyse. He escaped from the nazi and lived in Brazil, India and Japan. He spoke nine languages and was an expert not only on Western, but also on Indian and Japanese traditional music. Ravi Shankar, Octavio Paz, Tohru Takemitsu, John Cage, Luigi Dallapicolla among many more recognized him as one of the most important masters of music in the 20th century. He was teacher of Luigi Nono, Tom Jobim among many more. As composer he left a large number of important works. As philosopher, he believed that reality is an integrated paradox and advocated the overcoming of Occident and Orient into a new society. Since the 1950s he started working with graphical music scores. Emanuel Pimenta - who collaborated with John Cage and Merce Cunningham, having been composer for Cunningham over about twenty-five years - studied and lived with Koellreutter. Here, he tells about his master, who also was his great friend.
About the Author: Emanuel Dimas de Melo Pimenta has been considered an important musician, architect, writer, photographer and intermedia artist in the beginning of the third millennium - according to statements written by personalities like John Cage, Ornette Coleman, Merce Cunningham, René Berger, Daniel Charles, Dove Bradshaw, Phill Niblock or William Anastasi among others. With several international prizes, more than fifty published books, many electronic books and forty audio compact discs, his works are included in some of the most important art collections and world-wide recognized institutions like the Whitney Museum of New York, the ARS AEVI Contemporary Art Museum, the Biennale of Venice, the Computer Art Museum of Seattle, the Kunsthaus of Zurich, the Durini Contemporary Art Collection, the Bibliotèque Nationale of Paris and the MART - Modern Art Museum of Rovereto and Trento among others. His works are also included in the Universalis Encyclopedia (Britannica) since 1991, in the Sloninsky Baker's Music Dictionary (Berkeley), the Charles Hall's Chronology of the Western Classical Music, as well as in the All Music Guide - The Expert's Guide to the Best Cds. Legendary musicians like John Cage, David Tudor, Takehisa Kosugi, John Tilbury, Christian Wolff, Maurizio Barbetti, Audrey Riley and the Manhattan Quartet among others have performed his compositions. He collaborated with John Cage, as commissioned composer for Merce Cunningham, from 1985 until his disappearance in 1992. He remained composer for Merce Cunningham along more than twenty years, until Merce Cunningham's death in 2009. He is member of the SACD - Societè des Autheurs et Compositeurs Dramatiques in Paris since 1991. He is an active member of the New York Academy of Sciences, of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Washington DC and of the ASMP - American Society of Media Photographers. He is member and advisor of the AIVAC - Association Internationale pour la Video dans les Arts et la Culture, in Locarno, Switzerland. He is also founder and director of the Arts, Sciences and Technology Foundation - Observatory, in Trancoso, Portugal (www.asa-art.com/facto.html). He is co-founder and director of the HOLOTOPIA Academy, in the Amalfi Coast, Italy (www.asa-art.com/holotopiaacademy.html). Emanuel Pimenta lives in Locarno, Switzerland - but he is also based in New York and Lisbon. His website is www.emanuelpimenta.net