James Tenney (1934-2006) – composer, teacher, pianist, conductor – studied piano as a child, and from 1952-53 studied engineering at the University of Denver. He then moved to New York, where he studied piano with Schoenberg pupil Edouard Steuermann. Tenney was also a student of Chou Wen-Chung, Carl Ruggles, Lejaren Hiller, Kenneth Gaburo and Edgard Varese. During 1961-64 he was involved in innovative electroacoustic research at Bell Telephone Laboratories, where he worked with Max Matthews developing programs for computer sound-generation and composition. He was involved in the ensembles of Harry Partch, Steve Reich and Phil Glass, and with his own ensemble Tone Roads has performed and/or conducted music by Charles Ives, John Cage, Morton Feldman, Erik Satie, Arnold Schonberg, and others. He was also a brilliant and inspiring teacher working at Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn, California Institute of the Arts, University of California and York University Toronto, and is considered as one of the most important music theorists of 20th century. Tenney’s notable students include John Luther Adams, John Bischoff, Peter Garland, Larry Polansky, Charlemagne Palestine and Marc Sabat.