Michael Harrison

Early years

Born in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, Harrison grew up in Eugene, Oregon, where his father, David Kent Harrison was a professor of mathematics at the University of Oregon and a Guggenheim Fellow for the academic year 1963–1964. As a child and teenager, he spent summers in both Chatham and Concord, Massachusetts, with his grandfather, George R. Harrison, a professor of experimental physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1930), and Dean of Science (1942–64). He graduated from the University of Oregon with a B.M. in Composition, where he later received the Distinguished Alumnus of the Year Award, and then moved to New York City to study with La Monte Young through a Dia Art Foundation Apprenticeship-in Residency. He later received an M.M. in composition from the Manhattan School of Music, studying with Reiko Fueting.

Career

In 1986, Harrison designed and produced the "harmonic piano", an extensively modified grand piano with the ability to play 24 notes per octave. Critic Kyle Gann referred to it as "an indisputable landmark in the history of Western tuning". The instrument is described in the second edition of the Grove Dictionary of Musical Instruments.

Harrison had been a serious student of Indian music, first as a disciple of master Indian vocalist Pandit Pran Nath (1979–1996), and then a protégé of Ustad Mashkoor Ali Khan (1999–2026). He was also the co-founder and president of the American Academy of Indian Classical Music (AAICM).

Harrison was a protege of minimalist composer, La Monte Young, serving as Young's exclusive tuner for The Well Tuned Piano, a semi-improvised several hour long piano piece, learning the piece by sitting at the piano with Young every time he played it. He became the only person to ever play the piece other than the composer.

Later life and death

Harrison died on April 17, 2026, at the age of 67.

Academic appointments

Harrison had been on faculty at the Rhode Island School of Design, Manhattan School of Music’s Contemporary Performance Program, and the Bang on a Can Summer Institute at MASS MoCA. He was music director at Arts, Letters & Numbers. He was a Guggenheim Fellow for the academic year 2018–2019.

Discography

2026 Evening Light: Raga Cycle I (Cantaloupe Music 21221)

2022 Christina Vantzou, Michael Harrison, and John Also Bennett (Séance Centre, 2LP)

2021 Seven Sacred Names (Cantaloupe Music 21157)

2020 Just Constellations, Roomful of Teeth (New Amsterdam Records)

2018 For this from that will be filled, Clarice Jensen (Miasmah Recordings 041)

2017 Histories, Sophia Subbayya Vastek (Innova Recordings 974)

2016 Harmonic Constellations, Mari Kimura (New World Records 80776–2)

2012 Time Loops with cellist Maya Beiser (Cantaloupe Music 21086)

2012 Rumi: Lovedrunk (remastered)

2009 The Harmonic Series – A Compilation of Works in Just Intonation (Important Records 272)

2007 Revelation: Music in Pure Intonation (Cantaloupe Music 21043)

2001 Windham Hill 25 Years of Piano (Windham Hill Records)

1992 From Ancient Worlds (New Albion Records 042)

1987 In Flight (Fortuna Records 17042–2)

1985 Windham Hill Records Piano Sampler (WH 1040)

Compositions

Passage Installation with nine hours of music in 6-channel surround sound, composed and recorded with Elliot Cole, Ina Filip, Benoit Rolland, and lighting by Nina Elder, commissioned by Turchin Center for the Visual Arts, Boone, NC, 2023

A New Well commissioned and premiered by Young People's Chorus of New York City, Francisco Núñez, director, 2021

Time Cycles commissioned and premiered by Alarm Will Sound, Alan Pierson, conductor, Sheldon Hall, St. Louis, MO, 2019

Mureed for string quartet (commissioned and premiered by Del Sol Quartet, Pacific Pythagorean Music Festival), 2019

Tone Rooms installation with media artist Jonathan Turner, McColl Center for Art + Innovation, 2019

Constitution, versions for string quartet, cello and piano, violin and piano, clarinet and piano, and solo piano (premiere: Bechtler Museum of Modern Art), 2019

Just Ancient Loops (cello octet) commissioned and premiered by Cello Octet Amsterdam, Singelkerk, Amsterdam, the Netherlands, 2018

Cello Constellations for cello with 21 pre-recorded cello tracks and electronics (commissioned and premiered by Clarice Jensen, The Kitchen), 2017

Bairagi Bhairav for just intonation piano, Indian vocals, tabla, and optional tanpura (premiere: Carnegie Hill Concerts, Church of Advent Hope), 2017

Harmonic Constellations for violin with 13 pre-recorded violin tracks and electronics (commissioned and premiered by Mari Kimura, National Sawdust), 2016

Chorale (from Just Ancient Loops) for string orchestra (premiere: String Orchestra of Brooklyn, Roulette), 2016