Theatre of Eternal Music String Ensemble

The Theatre of Eternal Music was founded in 1964 as an ensemble for experimental drone music with long, very loud sounds and initially consisted of La Monte Young and Marian Zazeela (vocal), Tony Conrad and John Cale (violin); sometimes Terry Riley came in as a singer. There have been performances with Angus MacLise, Terry Jennings, Tony Conrad, Billy Name, Jon Hassell, Jon Gibson, Alex Dea and others. Since the 1980s, experimental trumpeter and composer Ben Neill from New York has led the Theatre of Eternal Music Brass Ensemble and cellist Charles Curtis from San Diego has been leading the Theatre of Eternal Music String Ensemble. Both formations, which occasionally combine to form the Theatre of Eternal Music Brass and String Ensemble, are dedicated strictly to the performance of the works of La Monte Young in their each current line-up.