Pauline Oliveros
pioneer of electronic music
Composer and accordionist Pauline Oliveros (30 May 1932 - November 24, 2016) began exploring tape and electronic music techniques in the late 50s. A founding member and central figure of the influential San Francisco Tape Music Centre with Ramon Sender and Morton Subotnick, her compositions introduced meditative and ritualistic practices while exploring deep, existential ideas. Gender inequality would be a theme that she addressed tenaciously. An essay she wrote for the NY Times in 1970 started with a provocative question – “Why have there been no ‘great’ women composers?” Lifting the veil on gender bias and societal expectations of domestic compliance, she worked as she says “To create an atmosphere of opening for all to be heard, with the understanding that listening is healing.”