Edgard Varèse

Edgard Varèse (1883-1965) was a French composer, naturalized as a U.S. citizen in 1926. While his body of works is small, Varèse became one of the most influential of 20th century composers through his concepts of organized sound, his contributions to electronic music, and his work establishing ensembles devoted to performing new music. Ionisation for 13 percussionists is his most famous chamber piece, and his large orchestral works, Arcana and Amériques, are noted for their extensive parts for percussion. Varèse created Poème électronique for tape, a landmark in the field of musique concrète, for the 1958 Brussels World Fair.