Gene Tyranny

Who is Gene Tyranny?

"Blue" Gene Tyranny is an avant-garde composer and pianist. He was born in San Antonio, Texas, the adopted son of Dorothy and Meyer Sheff. He studied piano with Meta Hertwig and Rodney Hoare, and composition with Otto Wick and Frank Hughes. He taught at Mills College from 1971 to 1982 and also worked at the Center for Contemporary Music at Mills. He moved to New York in 1983 and received a Bessie in 1988 and in 1989 a Composer Fellowship from the NY Foundation for the Arts.

Tyranny began his performance career in high school, playing pieces by major composers with Philip Krumm in a concert series in San Antonio. He has toured with the Carla Bley Band and The Prime Movers as well as Iggy & The Stooges. He has performed on albums by Laurie Anderson, David Behrman, John Cage, Peter Gordon, and Robert Ashley, with whom he frequently collaborates. Tyranny's albums include Out of the Blue, The Intermediary Country Boy Country Dog, Free Delivery, and Somewhere Songs/The Invention of Memory.