People

About World Harmony Project

World Harmony Project's Exotic Music Ensemble 1994

Back row: Joshua Lederman, Buddy Young, Buzz Kimball, Denny Genovese, Wade Hines, Keton. Bob Nuefeld. Front: Karen Boon von Ochssee, Dawn Delo

This group was WHP's first mission: to discover the musical properties of the Natural Harmonic Series as a scale, compose and perform music based on these discoveries and to record it for posterity. Elements of this scale formed the roots of most of the music of the world, so the stylistic theme of the ensemble was the  musical traditions from  around the world. EME took this a step further however, by composing new music, based on an expanded version of the scale, in the spirit of unifying the roots of the various nations in a planetary cultural effort. EME was a pioneer effort in the cause of World Music.

see the Exotic Music Ensemble page

Peter Coraggio and Harry Partch - 1974

Harry Partch was the musical pioneer who returned Just Intonation to Western music after 3 centuries of forgetfulness. 

Peter Coraggio, was a pioneer of Electronic Music in the 1960's and 1970's, working as a professor at the University of Hawaii. He was a student of Vladimir Ussachevsky at the Colombia/Princeton Electronic Music Studio.

The instrument shown here is the ARP 2500 modular analog synthesizer. Some of it's components continue today in the custom Theremin, played by Denny Genovese.

Ivor Darreg  was a prolific and visionary Writer, Composer, Music Theorist, Instrument Designer and Networker whose tireless efforts helped to develop the theory and practice of Microtonal Music in the 20th century. He was an early supporter of World Harmony Project.

Ivor Darreg Web Site

Denny Genovese and Robert Moog at Moog's laboratory in Asheville, NC in 2001

Robert Moog was the leading pioneer in Electronic Music technology. Here, he and Denny pose with his solid state theremin.

Erv Wilson and Denny Genovese - 2001

Erv Wilson is the great guru of microtonal music theory in the United States. This picture was taken at his home in Los Angeles in 2001.

Joe Monzo, Denny Genovese and Jonathan Glasier - 1998

Jonathan Glasier grew up in San Diego with Harry Partch as a frequent house guest. His father, John Glasier senior, was a great cellist and violist, who could improvise in many different microtonal scale systems, and was one of Partch's most constant friends and supporters. Jonathan was a member of Partch's ensemble, and personally cared for the composer in his last years of failing health.

In addition to his life long career as a microtonal musician and instrument builder, Jonathan self published the magazine Interval - a microtonal newsletter, throughout the late 1970's and most of the 1980's. He also developed a form of Harmonic Singing as a child, and taught this method to Harry Partch, Jonathan Goldman and others. He is the co-proprietor with his wife Elizabeth, of the Sonic Arts Gallery in San Diego.

Joe Monzo is a composer, musician, author, computer programmer and teacher specializing in Just Intonation.

Denny Genovese with Dr. Easley Blackwood - Chicago 1985

Dr. Easley Blackwood is an important author, composer and teacher of microtonal music who worked at the University of Chicago. In 1985, he released an album of 12 compositions, one in each of the equal temperaments between 13 and 24 pitches per duple (octave). Each composition was a masterpiece that clearly exemplified the properties of the scale it was created with. Denny Genovese interviewed him that summer for an article about the album in Interval Magazine, and returned many times after that for tutorials in Just intonation.

Easley Blackwood with the Scalatron

Dean Drummond and Denny Genovese - NJ 2001

Dean Drummond was a member of the Harry Partch Ensemble, the heir of Partch's instruments, after their round with Danlee Mitchell, and is the founder of the Partch Studies department at Montclaire University in New Jersey.

Denny Genovese, Barbara Hero and Robert Faulkrod at the SEJIC studio - Gainesville, FL 1997

Barbara Hero is an author, lecturer and music therapist who has done extensive research on the applications of the Lambdoma, the frequency matrix that forms the basis of Just Intonation, in various bands of the electromagnetic spectrum. Robert Faulkrod is a poet and electrical engineer, who built a keyboard to play the Lambdoma scale and simultaneously project the combinational waveforms in a laser light show. When they produced a limited number of these keyboards for sale, Denny Genovese designed and facilitated a collaboration with British programmer, Robert Walker to create a component of his MIDI program, Fractal Tune Smithy that allows musicians to play Lambdoma music with their PC computers.

Barbara Hero, Dick Lord, Robert Faulkrod, Linda Joy Lewis

Wells, Maine 2002

Dick Lord created an alternate operating system for the Ensonique Mirage, a historic sampling synthesizer, in the 1980's. This operating system facilitated the use of microtonal scales, including Just Intonation. Linda Joy Lewis, a gourmet vegetarian chef, has been a board member and staunch supporter of World Harmony Project from it's inception in 1992.

Craig Grady plays music in Just Intonation on instruments of his own design in Los Angeles. He is closely associated with Erv Wilson. Photo taken at his studio in Los Angeles, 2001.

Denny Genovese and Warren Burt - San Diego 1998

Warren Burt is an Australian composer, performer and author of world renown. He has been involved with Microtonal music and Just Intonation since the 1960's

John Starret and Denny Genovese - Denver 1998

John Starret is a professor of Mathematics at the University of New Mexico. He is a Microtonal composer, musician and instrument builder who has been very active in networking microtonal musicians on the web. He is the inventor of the Starrboard. He played in the Neil Haverstick Microtonal Band when he lived in Denver.

Seth Bloombaum played analog synthesizer in the 1970's and is currently playing in a Turkish and Balkan Music Ensemble. Here, he joined Denny Genovese on his weekly Radio show on KTUH-FM, which was Hawaii's first New Music radio show, featuring music by Harry Partch, Henry Cowell and other early microtonalists, as well as Classic Electronic Music from Mills College, Colombia/Princeton and other studios.

Don Slepian and Skip LaPlante - NYC 1980

Don Slepian was a pioneer of Electronic Music since the 1960's, and has been a loyal supporter of World Harmony Project since it's inception. 

Skip LaPlante is a microtonal instrument builder and Street Musician in New York City.

Michael Jewel, Denny Genovese - Honolulu, 1976

Michael Jewel is a Cosmic Poet from Burlington VT. Don Slepian accompanied this performance with analog synthesizers, slide guitar and other instruments, using tape echo and other effects.

Prem Joshua plays traditional Indian classical music as well as contemporary World Fusion. This poster is from their World Harmony Project concert in Gainesville, Florida in 2003.