Maker/Artist
Young, La Monte
American composer, musician, and performance artist, born 1935
A proponent of experimental music created by the use of extended drones. Educated at the University of California, Los Angeles (1957-1958), he completed his graduate studies in composition at the University of California, Berkeley. An avid jazz musician, Young performed with Ornette Coleman and Don Cherry. In the mid-1960s he formed the Theater of Eternal Music with Marian Zazeela, Angus MacLise and Billy Name; Tony Conrad and John Cale joined later. His use of long tones at high volume was an important influence on other group members, especially Cale, who went on to form the Velvet Underground.Young studied with world-renowned North Indian vocal master Pandit Pran Nath in the 1970s. Young and Zazeela later created the Dream House, a sound and light installation.
