Biography:

Milton Babbitt is one of the most important and celebrated composers of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. His numerous accomplishments in serial music, including compositions and theoretical writings, have had both a deep and widespread influence on contemporary music and musical thought.

Babbitt was born in Philadelphia in 1916 and raised in Jackson, Mississippi, where he demonstrated musical talent at an early age. He studied composition under Marion Bauer, Philip James, and Roger Sessions, and earned degrees from New York University and Princeton University. He joined the music faculty of Princeton University in 1938, where he taught for many years, becoming Conant Professor of Music in 1960. His career at Princeton also included membership in the faculty of mathematics during World War II. He is currently on the faculty of the Julliard School.

A composer of both acoustic and electronic works, Babbitt is the recipient of many honors, commissions, and awards. These include a National Institute of Arts Award, a Guggenheim Fellowship, a MacArthur Fellowship, and a Pulitzer Prize Citation for his “life’s work as a distinguished and seminal American composer.” He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters and a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He is a founder and member of the Committee of Direction for the Electronic Music Center of Columbia-Princeton Universities and a member of the Editorial Board of Perspectives of New Music.

Babbitt’s many writings on music, renowned for the importance of their content and their distinctive style, have appeared in numerous books and journals. A substantial collection of his essays was recently published by Princeton University Press. Babbitt’s eminence in the world of music, along with his intellectual breadth, astonishing musicality, and famous wit, have made him eagerly sought after as a speaker.