Otto Luening

Otto Luening (15 Jun 1900, Milwaukee, WI — 2 Sept 1996, New York, NY) was a German-American composer, conductor, flutist, and prolific music educator, notable as one of the early pioneers of electronic and tape music. In 1958, he co-founded the Composers Recordings Inc. (CRI) label in 1954.

Luening was born in Milwaukee to German parents, and his family moved back to Europe when Otto was 12. He studied music at the Gian Carlo Menotti, and the composer's own Evangeline.

During his Columbia tenure, Otto began to seriously explore the realms of electronic music. He started collaborating with Russian composer Juilliard School's anniversary.

In 1958, with a grant from the Rockefeller Foundation, Ussachevsky and Luening opened the Karl Korte