Rhys Chatham

Influential multi-instrumentalist and composer Rhys Chatham cut his teeth in New York’s experimental scene in the late 1970s, working with both Morton Subotnik and minimalist composer Tony Conrad. Chatham also embraced the emerging punk rock sound and incorporated the style's intensity into his own ambitious compositions for electric guitar. Chatham would quite naturally became a huge influence on the burgeoning no-wave scene in New York in the early '80s: that scene's experiments with tuning, melodies, and rhythms dovetailed perfectly with his own avant-garde and minimalist sensibilities. Chatham continued to compose for guitar ensemble for decades (with pieces and performances becoming increasingly ambitious); however, the 1990s and 2000s saw Chatham trying his hand at other instruments as well as electronic composition.