Electroacoustic Pioneer Composer Jon Appleton has Died, Aged 83

Appleton was instrumental in shaping music both in instruments and composition. His earliest compositions such as "Chef d'Oeuvre" and "Newark Airport Rock" (1967) attracted global attention as they formed a new tradition called "programmatic electronic music."

At the age of 28, Appleton joined the faculty of Dartmouth College where he established one of the first electronic music studios in the United States. He worked there intermittently for 42 years. In the mid-1970s, he briefly became the head of Elektronmusikstudion in Stockholm, Sweden.

Appleton helped develop the first commercial digital synthesizer called the Synclavier together with Sydney Alonso and Cameron Jones. In the early 1990s, co-founded the Theremin Center for Electronic Music at the Moscow Conservatory of Music and later taught at Keio University (Mita) in Tokyo, Japan, CCRMA at Stanford University and the University of California Santa Cruz.

Jon's son, Jason, released a statement on Facebook about the death of his father.

"It’s with a heavy heart that I post this. My father Jon Appleton died last night after battling pneumonia for too long," he said. "Jon was with his family and had said goodbye to many friends. They absolutely broke the mold with my Dad. He will be so missed. We love you Jon! The doctors, nurses, aides and staff at The Village at WRJ and DHMC were just amazing. We are grateful to all of them beyond words for helping my dad pass on peacefully and comfortably with care and dignity."

We offer our condolences to Mr. Appleton's family, friends, and colleagues.