Philip Corner - Ahk For Kwok: Crazy Music (2016)

Philip Lionel Corner (Phil Corner)

Born in the Bronx, New York in 1933, he studied composition at City College of New York. He also studied analysis with Olivier Messiaen at Paris Conservatory. After returning to the U. S., he studied composition with Henry Cowell and Otto Luening at Columbia University, where he earned his MA. Around that time, he met Cage and his associates, setting out performances at Judson Memorial Church, New York. In 1962, at International Contemporary Music Festival, Wiesbaden, Fluxus members conducted the now notorious “piano destruction event,” which was actually a unique interpretation of Piano Activities by Philip Corner. Besides composition and performance, he also participated in gamelan group Son of Lion in New York, presenting a variety of activities, which included calligraphy and visual art as well. In 1992, he moved to Reggio Emilia, Italy.