UB's Artistic Legacy

An American virtuoso pianist and composer, Yvar Mikhashoff is best known for his performance of contemporary classical music. Mikhashoff was considered one of the leading performers of contemporary piano music of his day. He worked closely with composers all over the world, including leading figures like John Cage, Morton Feldman, Giacinto Scelsi, Per Nørgård, Poul Ruders, and numerous others.

Raymond Federman was a French–American novelist and academic, known also for poetry, essays, translations, and criticism. He held positions at the University at Buffalo from 1973 to 1999, when he was appointed Distinguished Emeritus Professor. His work sought to straddle the boundary between fiction and reality — and in so doing to emphasize the inadequacy of language to capture either one completely.

An American poet and author of more than sixty books, Creeley is usually associated with the Black Mountain poets. He served as the Samuel P. Capen Professor of Poetry and the Humanities at UB, and in 1991, he joined colleagues Susan Howe, Charles Bernstein, Raymond Federman, Robert Bertholf, and Dennis Tedlock in founding the Poetics Program.

South African novelist, essayist, linguist, translator and recipient of the 2003 Nobel Prize in Literature. In 2013, Richard Poplak of the Daily Maverick described Coetzee as "inarguably the most celebrated and decorated living English-language author". In addition to the Nobel, Coetzee has been awarded the Jerusalem Prize, CNA Prize (thrice), the Prix Femina Étranger, The Irish Times International Fiction Prize and the Booker Prize (twice), among other accolades.

In the 1970s, as few in the Western New York art community could forget, Buffalo was a hotbed for experimentation in the nascent field of media arts. The city's reputation then and now as an incubator for adventurous creative minds and cultural movements may not have come to be without the contribution of one key figure. Gerald O'Grady, the founder of the University at Buffalo's Center for Media Study and the non-profit Media Study/Buffalo, whose influence remains everywhere apparent in Buffalo's visual arts community and far beyond.

An American author known for his playful, postmodernist style of short fiction. He takes great risks with tone and content, combining irony, rhythmic energy, and exuberance with a formal trickiness. For making it new and strange, he is a heroic figure in modern literature.

The German-born American composer, conductor, pianist, and educator, Lukas Foss contributed profoundly to the circulation and appreciation of music of the 20th century.

An icon of the American avant-garde, Hollis Frampton made rigorous, audacious, brainy, and downright thrilling films, leaving behind a body of work that remains unparalleled.

The Budapest set the standard for mid-20th-century chamber ensembles. It toured Europe, the Middle East and the United States extensively. After World War II, its players took advantage of the new long-playing record technology and its recordings were praised widely. The Budapest recorded extensively for the HMV and CBS labels, and included in its projects were the Beethoven cycle and the bulk of the Classical and Romantic literature.

An American writer best known for novels that combine philosophical depth and complexity with biting satire and boisterous, frequently bawdy humour. Much of Barth’s writing is concerned with the seeming impossibility of choosing the right action in a world that has no absolute values.

An American author, professor, and literary critic. His work includes fiction (especially science fiction), memoir, criticism, and essays on sexuality and society. After winning four Nebula awards and two Hugo awards over the course of his career, Delany was inducted by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame in 2002. In 2010 he won the third J. Lloyd Eaton Lifetime Achievement Award in Science Fiction from the academic Eaton Science Fiction Conference. The Science Fiction Writers of America named him its 30th SFWA Grand Master in 2013.

Morton Feldman was a unique and influential American composer. His experimentation with non-traditional notation, improvisation, and timbre led to a characteristic style that emphasized isolated and usually quiet points or moments of sound. His work with John Cage and his association with the avant-garde of American painters, including Pollock, Rauschenberg, and Rothko helped him to discard traditional music aesthetics for a less ordered and more intuitive, "moment form" approach to structure.