Gordon Monahan is a Canadian pianist and composer of experimental music. He has been active since at least 1978. Along with his own work, he has performed works by other composers such as John Cage

John Cage

John Milton Cage Jr. was an American composer, music theorist, writer, philosopher and artist. A pioneer of indeterminacy in music, electroacoustic music, and non-standard use of musical instruments, Cage was one of the leading figures of the post-war avant-garde...

, James Tenney

James Tenney

James Tenney was an American composer and influential music theorist.-Biography:Tenney was born in Silver City, New Mexico, and grew up in Arizona and Colorado. He attended the University of Denver, the Juilliard School of Music, Bennington College and the University of Illinois...

, Udo Kasemets

Udo Kasemets

Udo Kasemets is an Estonian-born Canadian composer of orchestral, chamber, vocal, piano, and electroacoustic works. He was one of the first to adopt the methods of John Cage, and is also a conductor, lecturer, pianist, organist, teacher and writer.Kasemets was born in Tallinn, Estonia, and trained...

 and Roberto Paci Dalò

Roberto Paci Dalò

Roberto Paci Dalò is an Italian composer and musician, film and theatre director, visual artist.After musical, visual, and architectural studies in Fiesole, Faenza and Ravenna, in 1993 he has been recipient of the “Berliner Künstlerprogramm des DAAD” Fellowship...

. Recently, he has also created site-specific sound installations.

Awards

Monahan won first prize at the 1984 CBC National Radio Competition for Young Composers. In 1992-93 he was artist-in-residence with the DAAD

German Academic Exchange Service

The German Academic Exchange Service or DAAD is the largest German support organisation in the field of international academic co-operation....

in Berlin.

Notable works

• Speaker Swinging (1982)
• Piano Mechanics (1982)
• Long Aeolian Piano (1984/88)
• Music From Nowhere (1989)
• Aquaeolian Whirlpool (1990)
• Spontaneously Harmonious in Certain Kinds of Weather (1996)
• Theremin in the Rain (2003)
• Theremin Pendulum (2008)

External links

• His homepage
• Biography at the Canadian Encyclopedia
• Video of his piece "Speaker Swinging"