Pugliese, Michael (Gabriel)

Pugliese, Michael (Gabriel) , American percussionist and composer; b. Buffalo, N.Y., Sept. 26, 1956; d. N.Y., Nov. 3, 1997. He studied with Jan Williams at the State Univ. of N.Y. at Buffalo (B.F.A., 1979) and at the Manhattan School of Music (M.M., 1981), then pursued a career as an avant-garde percussionist. In 1982 he produced a 12-hour marathon of the music of John Cage at Cooper Union in N.Y.; also gave premiere performances of Cage’s Etudes Boreales, Ryoanji, and Three², and received their dedications. He was a core member of the Bowery Ensemble and the New Music Consort, and founder of the Talking Drums, an experimental percussion trio. In 1985 he joined the Mercé Cunningham Dance Co., with which he subsequently toured throughout the U.S., South America, Europe, and Asia. His compositions for Cunningham are Peace Talks (Berkeley, Calif., Sept. 22, 1989) for a Variety of Ethnic Percussion Instruments and Sitar, inspired by the concept of global union of socially and politically troubled nations, Mixed Signals for Four Marimbulas and Tape (Paris, 1991), and Ice Breeze for Frame Drums, Water-phones, and Chant (London, 1992). Other compositions included June 22, 1978 for Percussion Quintet, 2 Narrators, and Tape (1978), Not Jinxed for 4 Marimbas, 4 Berimbaus, and Digital Delay (1991), Traditions I and II for Rocks, Glass, Metal, and MOOG Synthesizer (1995), and Sound Scripts I and II for Bottle Caps and Electronics (1995). Pugliese also appeared as a rock drummer, and made numerous rock arrangements, including one of Henry Mancini’s Peter Gunn for Percussion Quartet.

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire