Martin Bartlett

Biography

Sample Works

Martin Bartlett was born in Croydon, England in 1939, and grew up in Vancouver, BC. He received degrees in English and Music from the University of British Columbia and a Master’s degree in Electroacoustic Music from Mills College, Oakland where he studied under Terry Riley and Pandit Pranh Nath.

He was influenced by David Tudor and John Cage, and took an early interest in building electronic instruments, working with Don Buchla, David Behrman and others. He was a founding member of the Western Front Society and started the music program there in 1974. He taught composition at the University of Victoria and later at Simon Fraser University, eventually becoming the first director of graduate studies for the School for the Contemporary Arts.

Martin Bartlett had a great passion for the music of Indonesia, and was responsible for bringing the Javanese Gamelan to Simon Fraser University. His own work was often collaborative and aleatoric, and he also worked in theatrical and mixed media environments. He made an important and original contribution to the development of live electronic music, devising elegant and open interactions for instrumental performers and computer-controlled synthesizer. He died in 1993 of AIDS-related causes.

2002

Photo Source: http://www.vancouverartinthesixties.com/archive/628

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