Joel Chadabe

Joel Chadabe (December 12, 1938 – May 2, 2021)^[1] was an American composer and author. He was a pioneer in the development of interactive music.^{[2][3][4][5][6][7][8]}

Chadabe was born in the Bronx on December 12, 1938, to Solon Chadabe, a lawyer, and Sylvia Chadabe (née Cohen), a homemaker. Joel attended grade school at the Bentley School in Manhattan, where he studied piano, and later graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1959 with a degree in music, despite his parents' desire for him to become a lawyer. Chadabe then continued his education at Yale University under Elliott Carter, graduating in 1962 with a master's degree in music.^[9]

Upon completing his education at Yale, Chadabe and Carter traveled to Rome, where they continued their professional relationship.^[9] Chadabe was interested in studying jazz and opera, but ultimately accepted an offer from the State University of New York at Albany to direct its electronic music studio in 1965.^[9] He and Robert Moog designed the CEMS (Coordinated Electronic Music System), a Moog modular "super synthesizer" housed at the electronic music studios at Albany which incorporated an early digital sequencer, and he later acquired a Synclavier digital synthesizer for the university.^[9]

He was the president of Intelligent Music from 1983 to 1994,^[3][10] and founded the Electronic Music Foundation in 1994.^[11] Chadabe was the curator at New York sound gallery Engine 27 in 2000–01.^[12] He was given a SEAMUS Lifetime Achievement Award in 2007.^[13]

After retiring from his position at Albany in the late 1990s, Chadabe continued teaching as an adjunct at the Manhattan School of Music, New York University, and Bennington College.^[9]

His students include Liz Phillips, Richard Lainhart, and David A. Jaffe.^{[citation needed]}

Chadabe died of periampullary cancer at his home in Albany on May 2, 2021.^[9]

• Chadabe, Joel (1997). Electric Sound: The Past and Promise of Electronic Music. ISBN 978-0-13-303231-4.
• Chadabe, Joel (1975). "The Voltage-controlled Synthesizer", The Development and Practice of Electronic Music (Jon H. Appleton and Ronald Perera, eds.). ISBN 978-0-13-207605-0.
• Joel Chadabe (2005). "iFiddle Therefore I Am..." ACO. Retrieved October 14, 2006.

• After Some Songs (1995). Deep Listening CD 001.

• Chadabe, Joel (April 22, 2007). "About Ear to the Earth", EartotheEarth.org.
• Chadabe, Joel (April 1, 2001 12:00 PM). "The Electronic Century Part III: Computers and Analog Synthesizers", EMusician.com.