Nicolas Slonimsky

Conductor, composer, and musicologist, born in St Petersburg, Russia. After studies in piano and composition at the St Petersburg conservatory, he went to the USA (1923) and embarked on a peripatetic career that centred during the 1920s and 1930s on conducting, with an emphasis on modern composers and occasional composing. He later turned to writing, most notably Music Since 1900 (4th edn 1971) and the Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Music (1958 edn). His memoirs, Perfect Pitch, appeared in 1988.

Nicolas Slonimsky (April 27, 1894 - December 25, 1995) was a Russian-American composer, conductor, music critic, musician and author. He also wrote Music since 1900 , a survey of almost every important musical event in the 20th century and The Lexicon of Musical Invective, a compilation of hilariously bad reviews by critics of composers since Beethoven's time, as well as an autobiography, Perfect Pitch. During 1986, Slonimsky made frequent Saturday afternoon visits to appear on the Doug Ordunio show, heard over KFAC-FM, Los Angeles. Slonimsky possessed a sly sense of humor, a trait he would exhibit on the various appearances he made on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson.

Slonimsky was a great champion of contemporary music. One of his best-known books is the Thesaurus of Scales and Melodic Patterns (ISBN 0-8256-1449-X), which has influenced many jazz musicians and composers (including jazz legend John Coltrane and the notable contemporary composer John Adams).

Slonimsky's notable students include Cynthia Tse Kimberlin.