Ralph Shapey

Ralph Shapey (12 March 1921 – 13 June 2002) was an American composer and conductor. Biography Shapey was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He is known for his work as a composition professor at the University of Chicago, where he taught from 1964 to 1991 and where he founded and directed the Contemporary Chamber Players. Shapey studied violin with Emanuel Zeitlin and composition with Stefan Wolpe. He served in the United States Army in World War II before moving to New York City, where he worked as a violinist, composer, conductor, and pedagogue. In 1963, he conducted the orchestra and chorus at the University of Pennsylvania before accepting his position in Chicago. Shapey was made a MacArthur Fellow in 1982. Upon hearing the news via a telephone call, he was skeptical, reportedly asking, “Which of my friends or enemies put you up to this?” and slamming down the receiver. The French-American composer Edgard Varèse was among Shapey’s most important influences. Both composers had a fascination with unusual sonorities, counterpoint masses, and the outer extremes of pitch space. The coordination of static “sound blocks” in Shapey’s music is also reminiscent of another French compose