About Dennis Báthory-Kitsz

As part of the post-Fluxus generation of independent artists, Dennis composes, writes about, and advocates for nonpop. He has created more than a thousand works for orchestras, bands, sound sculptures, soloists, chamber groups, electronics, theater, opera, installations, dancers, interactive media and performance events, as well as writing about music and multimedia arts, since 1964.

His music has been performed around the world. He devised the We Are All Mozart music ‘productivity’ project, composing 100 commissioned works in 2007. His opera Erzsébet premiered in 2011. His groundbreaking article “The Rural Composer” was published in the Dutch journal Nynade in 2013. His book Whaaaaaaaaat!? I Don’t Get Classical Music: A Self-Help Desperation Guide was published in 2016. His ballet Send Me a Dream will be performed in November 2018, and his Requiem will be heard in 2019.

Critic and composer Kyle Gann calls him “something of a shadowy figure” and writes in New Music America that his third string quartet is “one of the most unified quartet movements you’ll ever hear.” His music includes traditional and graphic scores, his own electronic & acoustic instruments, computer software & hardware, synthesizers & e-boxes, electronic costumes, the Rhythmatron, and extended voice performances.

Dennis co-hosted Kalvos & Damian’s New Music Bazaar, winner of the ASCAP-Deems Taylor Award for Internet Journalism, with David Gunn; his book topics have included music, theater, computer technology, hiking, and Vermont’s country stores.