Music
Lucia Dlugoszewski
1925–2000 · composer, poet, instrument inventor
Detroit-born Polish American avant-garde composer who invented the 'timbre piano' and dozens of percussion instruments and was music director of the Erick Hawkins Dance Company.
- Born
Detroit, Michigan- Died
aged 74- Detroit years
- 1925–1950
- Field
- Music
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
Dlugoszewski, the daughter of Polish immigrants, was born and raised in Detroit. From age six she studied piano with Agelageth Morrison at the Detroit Institute of Musical Art, also known as the Detroit Conservatory of Music, and later took pre-medical and physics courses at Wayne State University. In 1950 she moved to New York, where she studied with Grete Sultan, Felix Salzer and Edgard Varèse and joined the circle of John Cage and the New York School. She developed the 'timbre piano', played inside the instrument with mallets, hands and objects on the strings, and invented percussion instruments such as ladder harps and unsheltered rattles. From 1951 she composed for the choreographer Erick Hawkins, whom she secretly married in 1962, and she led his company's music and later the company itself. Pierre Boulez premiered her Abyss and Caress with the New York Philharmonic in 1975, and in 1977 she became the first woman to win the Koussevitzky International Recording Award.
Highlights
- Invented the 'timbre piano' and many percussion instruments
- Studied piano at the Detroit Institute of Musical Art from age six
- Music director, then artistic director, of the Erick Hawkins Dance Company
- First woman to win the Koussevitzky International Recording Award (1977)
02 / Their Detroit places
Their Detroit places 1
Where they lived, worked, performed and liked to hang out. Closed and demolished places stay here too, because they are part of the city's history.
Studied here · 1940s
Wayne State University
Dlugoszewski took pre-medical and physics courses at Wayne State before turning fully to music.