Virtuoso musician who created highly improvisational and politically aware works inspired by secularism. His best-known compositions included "The People United Will Never Be Defeated!" and "Coming Together," which was based on Sam Melville's letters during the Attica State Prison riots of 1971.
He was a student at Phillips Academy, Harvard, and Princeton, where he was taught by Randall Thompson, Roger Sessions, Walter Piston, and Milton Babbitt.
His trip to Italy in 1960 was a pivotal time in his evolution as a musician.
His family noticed his musical talents when he gravitated toward the piano at the age of five.
His 2003 composition "Cadenza con o senza Beethoven" was written specifically for Ludwig van Beethoven's Fourth Piano Concerto.
