Walter Olmo (28 November 1938, Alba, Piedmont, Italy – 16 May 2019) was an Italian musician and composer.[1] In 1957 he wrote Towards a Conception of Musical Experimentation (Pour un concept d'expérimentation musicale). He advocated avant-garde electronic and contemporary music.[2] In his 1975 he published the essay La fine della preistoria musicale (The End of Musical Prehistory).[2]

He attended the Milan Conservatory graduating in piano and composition. He then studied under Mauricio Kagel, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Christian Wolff and Iannis Xenakis in Darmstadt.[2] Then he moved to Accademia Musicale Chigiana, Siena where he studied with Franco Donatoni and Franco Ferrara.[2]

With Piero Simondo, Elena Verrone, Michèle Bernstein, Guy Debord, Giuseppe Pinot-Gallizio and Asger Jorn, Olmo founded the Situationist International on July 28, 1957. Following a row with Debord, the Italian Section consisting of Olmo, Simondo and Verrone was expelled in January 1958. However he continued to collaborate with Gallizio, providing his "tereminofono", a musical instrument he had devised by adapting a theremin, for Gallizio's first public exhibition of "Industrial Painting" held at the Notizie Gallery, Turin on 30 May 1958.[3]

During the 1980s, he was a lecturer at the Licinio Refice Conservatory Frosinone.

References

  1. ^ Sadler, Simon (1999-07-02). The Situationist City. MIT Press. pp. 115–. ISBN 9780262692250. Retrieved 31 May 2012.
  2. ^ a b c d "Si è spento Walter Olmo, uno dei fondatori dell'Internazionale situazionista". Gazzetta d'Alba (in Italian). No. 16 May 2019. San Paolo Digital S.r.l. 2019. Retrieved 8 June 2019.
  3. ^ Home, Stewart (1988). The Assault On Culture. london: Unpopular Books. Retrieved 8 June 2019.
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