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"There are no two points so distant from one another that they cannot be connected by a single straight line -- and an infinite number of curves." Composer Lawrence Dillon has produced an extensive body of work, from brief solo pieces to a full-length opera. Partially deaf from birth, Dillon grew up in a bustling household with seven older siblings. He began composing as soon as he started piano lessons at the age of seven. In 1985, he became the youngest composer to earn a doctorate at The Juilliard School, and was shortly thereafter appointed to the Juilliard faculty. Dillon is now Composer in Residence at the North Carolina School of the Arts, where he has served as Music Director of the Contemporary Ensemble, Assistant Dean of Performance and Dean of the School of Music. Dillon's music, in the words of American Record Guide, is "lovely...austere...vivid and impressive." His works are recorded by Albany Records, Channel Crossings and CRS, and published by American Composers Editions. He is represented by Jeffrey James Arts Consulting. Previous Posts THE LIST: 111 Influential Works, or Every Year Was a Good Year. From the Head WF Kenan Writers Encounters Twenty-first Century Residencies Pivotal works: 90s and 00s Education The 80s: pivotal works Notes: Post-Concert The 70s: pivotal works Archives 01/02/2005 01/04/2005 01/06/2005 01/08/2005 01/10/2005 01/12/2005 01/14/2005 01/16/2005 01/18/2005 01/20/2005 01/22/2005 01/23/2005 01/25/2005 01/27/2005 01/29/2005 01/31/2005 02/02/2005 02/04/2005 02/06/2005 02/08/2005 02/10/2005 02/12/2005 02/14/2005 02/16/2005 02/18/2005 02/20/2005 02/22/2005 02/24/2005 02/26/2005 02/28/2005 03/02/2005 03/04/2005 03/06/2005 03/08/2005 03/10/2005 03/12/2005 03/14/2005 03/18/2005 03/19/2005 03/20/2005 03/22/2005 03/24/2005 03/26/2005 03/28/2005 03/30/2005 04/01/2005 04/03/2005 04/05/2005 04/07/2005 04/09/2005 04/11/2005 04/13/2005 04/15/2005 Visit Lawrence Dillon's Web Site Blogs I Like CONTACT INFORMATION Back to Sequenza21.com

Friday, April 01, 2005 The 80s: pivotal works Thanks to the help of Sequenza21 readers, I have a list of pivotal works from the 70s. Time to take a crack at the 1980s. Again, these are pieces I think had widespread influence on many composers, even though some of them didn’t have much influence on me personally: Laurie Anderson: O Superman (1981) Steve Reich: The Desert Music (1983) Arvo Part: Te Deum (1984) Morton Feldman: Piano and String Quartet (1985) John Adams: Harmonielehre (1985) Much to my surprise, I’m finding it very difficult to come up with works from the late 1980s that I’m certain belong on this list. Can anyone help? A lot of the pieces I thought could be included turned out to be from the early 90s. Maybe I should give in to the temptation to include the same composer more than once. But in any case, I may be missing a pivotal work from Downtown and from Neo-Complexity land. And does anyone know just when and how the craze for big, steroidal orchestral works got started? I think I must have missed that chapter. posted by Lawrence Dillon 7:36 AM