Conlon Nancarrow: Virtuoso of the Player Piano

Overview

Conlon Nancarrow won a MacArthur Genius Grant for his amazing compositions for the Player Piano - the only instrument that could perform his rhythmically astonishing music back in the 1940s when he began. Born in Arkansas, he left to fight against the fascists in the Spanish Civil War in the late 1930s and during the Communist 'witch hunts' of the 1940s he emigrated to Mexico where he lived the rest of his life focusing on his highly complex, but viscerally exciting musical creations. This film features filmed performances of his exciting music on player pianos, a live performance of a recently discovered piece and interviews with his friends and followers. He died in 1997, and 2012 marks the centenary of his birth.