Joel Chadabe (December 12, 1938 – May 2, 2021)[1] was an American composer and author. He is internationally recognized[by whom?] as a pioneer in the development of interactive music.[2][3][4][5][6][7][8][excessive citations]
Chadabe was born in the Bronx on December 12, 1938, to Solon Chadabe, a lawyer, and Sylvia Chadabe (née Cohen), a homemaker. Joel attended grade school at the Bentley School in Manhattan, where he studied piano, and later graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1959 with a degree in music, despite his parents' desire for him to become a lawyer. Chadabe then continued his education at Yale University under Elliott Carter, graduating in 1962 with a master's degree in music.[9]
Upon completing his education at Yale, Chadabe and Carter traveled to Rome, where they continued their professional relationship.[9] Chadabe was interested in studying jazz and opera, but ultimately accepted an offer from the State University of New York at Albany to direct its electronic music studio in 1965.[9] He and Robert Moog designed the CEMS (Coordinated Electronic Music System), a Moog modular "super synthesizer" housed at the electronic music studios at Albany which incorporated an early digital sequencer, and he later acquired a Synclavier digital synthesizer for the university.[9]
He was the president of Intelligent Music from 1983 to 1994,[3][10] and founded the Electronic Music Foundation in 1994.[11] Chadabe was the curator at New York sound gallery Engine 27 in 2000–01.[12] He was given a SEAMUS Lifetime Achievement Award in 2007.[13]
After retiring from his position at Albany in the late 1990s, Chadabe continued teaching as an adjunct at the Manhattan School of Music, New York University, and Bennington College.[9]
His students include Liz Phillips, Richard Lainhart, and David A. Jaffe.[citation needed]
Chadabe died of periampullary cancer at his home in Albany on May 2, 2021.[9]