“There have been many misfits in classical music, but Julius Eastman stands tall among them,” writes Tom Huizenga in Monday’s (6/21) at National Public Radio. “The late composer swerved from critical acclaim to gate-crashing controversy, and from success to homelessness. To be proudly gay as a composer in the 1970s was brave enough; to be Black and gay … even more so. But that confident self-awareness enabled Eastman to write music that was challenging, mischievously irreverent and sometimes ecstatic. Today he’s a visionary to many, even if his insistence on incorporating racial slurs into his titles still ruffles feathers…. He graduated from the Curtis Institute of Music … collaborated with key musical figures like Pierre Boulez and Zubin Mehta, and taught at the University of Buffalo…. When he died in a Buffalo, N.Y., hospital in 1990, he was just 49 years old…. Friends and scholars have begun slowly shedding light on Eastman’s music … and a newer generation of musicians has given his work a fresh look. Among those is the Los Angeles-based ensemble Wild Up, which has just released a singularly jubilant performance of Eastman’s 1974 work Femenine…. What kind of performance practice will develop around his music, now that more musicians are taking it up, is thrilling to imagine.”
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