Complexity and Beauty: An Interview with Musician, Composer, and Educator Rychard Cooper

I met Rychard Cooper back in 1982, when we were both enrolled in the Electronic Music & Audio Engineering programs at Long Beach City College. He and I would spend hours in the lab, programming the huge Moog modular synthesizers they had, and exploring various recording and tape manipulation techniques. Good times. Flash forward to present day, and he's teaching at CSULB's Cole Conservatory of Music. He also played a significant role in the on-going exhibition of Brian Eno's 77 Million Paintings at the University Art Museum, helped facilitate the recent Circuit Bending and Slow Sound Festival performances and, this Saturday evening at 7 PM, he is giving a multi-media lecture at the UAM titled "Complexity and Beauty: The Art of Brian Eno." This is something he often shares with his students, but this is the first time he's presented it to the public. This interview was recorded prior to the opening of the exhibition, the Slow Sound Festival, and the Circuit Bending concert. In it he talks about the recent events, his own work as a composer, and his work as an educator.