Amacher, Maryanne
Entry updated 13 April 2026. Tagged: Music, People.
(1938-1999) US composer, renowned for her groundbreaking site-specific electronic works, which are by their nature hard to capture on recordings. Her unfinished opera Intelligent Life should perhaps take its place among the significant "lost" works of sf. Its prescient premise envisages a future (it is set in 2021) in which AI produces Music faster than humans can, leading industry execs to create new wearable technology which enables people to hear music from a variety of emotional and psychological states. Amacher began work on the opera in the early 1980s, intending it to be broadcast simultaneously on Radio and Television, and continued working on it through her career. The book Intelligent Life [for complete subtitle see Checklist below] (coll 2026), edited by Lawrence Kumpf, compiled scripts, storyboards and technical notes to give the most complete presentation of its intended form. [CWa]
Maryanne Amacher
born Kane, Pennsylvania: 25 February 1938
died Rhinebeck, New York: 22 October 1999
works (selected)
- Intelligent Life: A "Media Opera," designed for Television and Stereo FM Sound Simulcast. A Musical, "occurring in the Future," to be presented as a multi-part Series. Concept and story by Maryanne Amacher (New York: Blank Forms Editions 2026) [nonfiction: coll: edited by Lawrence Kumpf: pb/photographic]
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