Joel Chadabe, CIRMMT's lifetime member and member of the Centre's International Advisory Board, passed away on Sunday, May 02. He was 82. [An obituary from the New York Times is also available here: https://www.nytimes.com]
His importance to the computer music community cannot be overestimated. As a renowned composer, educator, thinker and entrepreneur, he was one of the leading figures in this area for more than five decades -- a true pioneer! His initiatives have impacted hundreds if not thousands of people: former students, colleagues, friends and music enthusiasts in many ways. A glimpse of his extraordinary contributions is available at https://joelchadabe.net/.
Joel Chadabe was the first invited speaker for the student symposium in 2009, chosen by CIRMMT students, and since then, he has regularly participated in or co-organized CIRMMT activities.
In 2013, Joel became a member of the International Advisory Board of CIRMMT and spent a month at the Centre as a Fulbright visiting specialist in 2015.
In 2019, CIRMMT was delighted to offer lifetime membership to him in recognition of his seminal contributions to the computer music community as a pioneer on interactive music systems, entrepreneur, and renowned educator, as well as for the inspirational role he played at CIRMMT over a decade.
One of his many seminal contributions, Joel assembled one of the earliest examples of large, modular analog synths in the late 60's at SUNY Albany in collaboration with Robert Moog: The Coordinated Electronic Music Studio (CEMS). Recognizing the importance of this achievement 50 years later, CIRMMT organized a workshop on the re-birth of analog synthesis centred around Joel, bringing his unique insight to a new generation of synthesizer enthusiasts. Over a hundred attendees of all ages came to celebrate Joel as he gave a talk on Music as emergence and interacted with participants in the workshop. A video of his talk is available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zATg_yFCNpQ
As CIRMMT's former Directors, we feel privileged to have had such luminous moments with Joel, a mentor and a friend. On behalf of CIRMMT, we would like to say thank you again and again, Joel!
Marcelo Wanderley and Isabelle Cossette