Ellen highstein bio

I first met Elliott Carter, and Helen, at their house in Waccabuc, in the early ’80s. I was terrified. He was musical royalty; he had written some extraordinary pieces which I loved, had invented metric modulation, knew everyone, been everywhere and done everything.

I was astonished (and deeply relieved) to find that he was warm, friendly and very funny – and of course, incredibly knowledgeable and interesting, but that I’d expected.

Over the years, I got to know him well – among other things, our birthdays were a day (and a few years) apart, and we often celebrated together over a nice dinner – and was repeatedly overwhelmed by his legendary, prodigious memory (a sample drive up, say, 6 th Avenue: “Oh, there’s the building that was a [bank] in 1915, but that turned into a hotel where my friend [insert name of famous poet, choreographer, sculptor, etc.

here] lived before he got divorced and moved, and then it became a theater where I saw [name