Charles Curtis

Cellist Charles Curtis’s career bridges worlds of classical and avant-garde music. Curtis trained at Juilliard and has performed as principal cellist and guest soloist in numerous classical symphonies. Since the 1980s, Curtis has been closely associated with composer La Monte Young, and has performed many of Young’s pieces, as well as in duo formations with Young himself. Alongside this collaboration, during his early career Curtis was involved in New York alternative music, where he would play in now-hallowed downtown clubs including CBGB, The Mudd Club, and ABC No Rio. Following various lineages of this scene, in the 1990s Curtis formed the Charles Curtis Trio, who created sound installations comprising of minimal rock music accompanied by spoken texts, sine waves, and slide projection. Curtis performed the music of Éliane Radigue in The Kitchen’s gallery as part of the 2016 exhibition “From Minimalism into Algorithm.” For more information, please see: http://musicweb.ucsd.edu/people/people.php?cmd=fm_music_directory_detail&query_Full_Name=+Charles+Curtis&query_Active_Status=Faculty