Ann McMillan

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==Edgard Varèse and radio career== ==Edgard Varèse and radio career== In 1953, McMillan was introduced by sculptor [[Raymond Puccinelli]] to [[Edgard Varèse]] after the latter needed someone to use a tape recorder he had received.{{sfn|McMillan|2004|page=3}} From that year until 1955, she worked for Varèse as an assistant and creative collaborator.<ref name="UMD" /> During then, she assisted him with the [[Ampex]] tape recorder used in ''[[Déserts]]''.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Risset |first=Jean-Claude |date=2004 |title=The Liberation of Sound, Art-Science and the Digital Domain: Contacts With Edgard Varèse |url=https://doi.org/10.1080/0749446042000204545 |journal=Contemporary Music Review |volume=23 |issue=2 |pages=35 |doi=10.1080/0749446042000204545 |issn=0749-4467 |via=Taylor & Francis Online|url-access=subscription }}</ref>{{sfn|McMillan|2004|page=4}} She subsequently developed a friendship with Varèse, often visiting his house to eat dinner.{{sfn|McMillan|2004|page=4}} After working as a radio producer for ''[[Lively Arts (radio program)|Lively Arts]]'' in 1955, she moved to Paris as a [[Fulbright Fellow]] that year, remaining there until 1957.<ref name="UMD" /> During her time abroad, she worked on ''[[musique concrète]]'' with [[Pierre Schaeffer]] at [[Radiodiffusion-Télévision Française]]'s [[Club d'Essai]] studio in Paris,<ref name="UMD" /> with Varèse also doing work with him.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Davismoon |first=Stephen |date=2004 |title=The transmutation of the 'Old' with the 'New' in the Modernist vision of Edgard Varèse |url=https://doi.org/10.1080/0749446042000204527 |journal=Contemporary Music Review |volume=23 |issue=1 |pages=57 |doi=10.1080/0749446042000204527 |issn=0749-4467 |via=Taylor & Francis Online|url-access=subscription }}</ref> She later operated the tape recorder at ''Déserts''{{'}} American premiere at the [[Vermont National Guard Armory]] in [[Bennington, Vermont]] at the invitation of Bennington College president [[Frederick Burkhardt]], later recalling that the venue "was jammed".{{sfn|McMillan|2004|page=7}}{{efn|Although McMillan recalled that she "played the tape recorder" at the premiere,{{sfn|McMillan|2004|page=7}} the concert's program credits her as sound technician.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://crossettlibrary.dspacedirect.org/server/api/core/bitstreams/a9c0a077-053e-4cba-bbf0-36f0196ae959/content |title=Bennington College Symposium on Music and Art Concert |date=1955 |publisher=Bennington College |page=2 |archive-date=January 11, 2025 |access-date=January 5, 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250111221304/https://crossettlibrary.dspacedirect.org/server/api/core/bitstreams/a9c0a077-053e-4cba-bbf0-36f0196ae959/content |url-status=live }}</ref>}} Paul Boepple of the ''[[Bennington Banner]]'' praised her for "[doing] nobly at the Ampex controls".<ref>{{Cite news |last=Boepple |first=Paul |date=May 18, 1955 |title=Concert Closes Symposium On Music And Art |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/546078613/ |work=Bennington Evening Banner |page=3 |via=[[Newspapers.com]]}}</ref> In 1953, McMillan was introduced by sculptor [[Raymond Puccinelli]] to [[Edgard Varèse]] after the latter needed someone to use a tape recorder he had received.{{sfn|McMillan|2004|page=3}} From that year until 1955, she worked for Varèse as an assistant and creative collaborator,<ref name="UMD" /> assisting him with the [[Ampex]] tape recorder used in ''[[Déserts]]''.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Risset |first=Jean-Claude |date=2004 |title=The Liberation of Sound, Art-Science and the Digital Domain: Contacts With Edgard Varèse |url=https://doi.org/10.1080/0749446042000204545 |journal=Contemporary Music Review |volume=23 |issue=2 |pages=35 |doi=10.1080/0749446042000204545 |issn=0749-4467 |via=Taylor & Francis Online|url-access=subscription }}</ref>{{sfn|McMillan|2004|page=4}} She subsequently developed a friendship with Varèse, often visiting his house to eat dinner.{{sfn|McMillan|2004|page=4}} After working as a radio producer for ''[[Lively Arts (radio program)|Lively Arts]]'' in 1955, she moved to Paris as a [[Fulbright Fellow]] that year, remaining there until 1957.<ref name="UMD" /> During her time abroad, she worked on ''[[musique concrète]]'' with [[Pierre Schaeffer]] at [[Radiodiffusion-Télévision Française]]'s [[Club d'Essai]] studio in Paris,<ref name="UMD" /> with Varèse also doing work with him.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Davismoon |first=Stephen |date=2004 |title=The transmutation of the 'Old' with the 'New' in the Modernist vision of Edgard Varèse |url=https://doi.org/10.1080/0749446042000204527 |journal=Contemporary Music Review |volume=23 |issue=1 |pages=57 |doi=10.1080/0749446042000204527 |issn=0749-4467 |via=Taylor & Francis Online|url-access=subscription }}</ref> She later operated the tape recorder at ''Déserts''{{'}} American premiere at the [[Vermont National Guard Armory]] in [[Bennington, Vermont]] at the invitation of Bennington College president [[Frederick Burkhardt]], later recalling that the venue "was jammed".{{sfn|McMillan|2004|page=7}}{{efn|Although McMillan recalled that she "played the tape recorder" at the premiere,{{sfn|McMillan|2004|page=7}} the concert's program credits her as sound technician.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://crossettlibrary.dspacedirect.org/server/api/core/bitstreams/a9c0a077-053e-4cba-bbf0-36f0196ae959/content |title=Bennington College Symposium on Music and Art Concert |date=1955 |publisher=Bennington College |page=2 |archive-date=January 11, 2025 |access-date=January 5, 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250111221304/https://crossettlibrary.dspacedirect.org/server/api/core/bitstreams/a9c0a077-053e-4cba-bbf0-36f0196ae959/content |url-status=live }}</ref>}} Paul Boepple of the ''[[Bennington Banner]]'' praised her for "[doing] nobly at the Ampex controls".<ref>{{Cite news |last=Boepple |first=Paul |date=May 18, 1955 |title=Concert Closes Symposium On Music And Art |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/546078613/ |work=Bennington Evening Banner |page=3 |via=[[Newspapers.com]]}}</ref>

McMillan remained with the RTF after her return to the United States, particularly as one of their program directors in New York City from 1958 to 1962.<ref name="UMD" /> In 1964, she began working as the music director of New York City radio station [[WBAI]].<ref name="UMD" /><ref name="composers" /> In 1965, McMillan did an interview of [[Yoko Ono]] as part of the former's job;<ref name="whitmorerarebooks">{{Cite book |url=https://whitmorerarebooks.cdn.bibliopolis.com/images/upload/catalogue27wrb-web.pdf |title=Catalogue 27 |publisher=Whitmore Rare Books |page=50 |archive-date=January 14, 2025 |access-date=January 14, 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250114034636/https://whitmorerarebooks.cdn.bibliopolis.com/images/upload/catalogue27wrb-web.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> the two became close after Ono and her husband [[Anthony Cox (producer)|Anthony Cox]] worked as volunteers at a benefit concert organized by the station in [[The Town Hall (New York City)|The Town Hall]],<ref>{{Cite book |last=Ordovás |first=Jesús |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gmIwDgAAQBAJ |title=John Lennon |publisher=Sílex |year=2014 |pages=98–99 |isbn=978-84-7737-861-7 |language=es |quote=Una de sus iniciativas fue colaborar con una emisora de radio que ofrecía un concierto benéfico en el Town Hall, gracias a la cual intimaron con Ann McMillan, la directora musical de la emisora.}}</ref><ref name="Goldman 2020" /> though McMillan was reportedly appalled by Ono and Cox's poor living conditions while visiting their home. At one point McMillan asked them to "give [their daughter Kyoko Chan Cox] to someone who loves her".<ref name="Goldman 2020">{{Cite book |last=Goldman |first=Albert |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=76PSDwAAQBAJ |title=Las muchas vidas de John Lennon |year=2020 |pages=369–370 |publisher=Debols!Llo |isbn=978-84-663-5406-6 |language=es}}</ref> According to [[John Cage]] scholar James Pritchett, McMillan was "a sensitive and creative producer" at WBAI.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Pritchett |first=James |date=December 11, 2015 |title=How the Happenings happened |url=https://rosewhitemusic.com/piano/2015/12/11/how-the-happenings-happened/ |website=The piano in my life |access-date=January 14, 2025 |archive-date=January 14, 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250114034636/https://rosewhitemusic.com/piano/2015/12/11/how-the-happenings-happened/ |url-status=live }}</ref> McMillan remained with the RTF after her return to the United States, particularly as one of their program directors in New York City from 1958 to 1962.<ref name="UMD" /> In 1964, she began working as the music director of New York City radio station [[WBAI]].<ref name="UMD" /><ref name="composers" /> In 1965, McMillan did an interview of [[Yoko Ono]] as part of the former's job;<ref name="whitmorerarebooks">{{Cite book |url=https://whitmorerarebooks.cdn.bibliopolis.com/images/upload/catalogue27wrb-web.pdf |title=Catalogue 27 |publisher=Whitmore Rare Books |page=50 |archive-date=January 14, 2025 |access-date=January 14, 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250114034636/https://whitmorerarebooks.cdn.bibliopolis.com/images/upload/catalogue27wrb-web.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> the two became close after Ono and her husband [[Anthony Cox (producer)|Anthony Cox]] worked as volunteers at a benefit concert organized by the station in [[The Town Hall (New York City)|The Town Hall]],<ref>{{Cite book |last=Ordovás |first=Jesús |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gmIwDgAAQBAJ |title=John Lennon |publisher=Sílex |year=2014 |pages=98–99 |isbn=978-84-7737-861-7 |language=es |quote=Una de sus iniciativas fue colaborar con una emisora de radio que ofrecía un concierto benéfico en el Town Hall, gracias a la cual intimaron con Ann McMillan, la directora musical de la emisora.}}</ref><ref name="Goldman 2020" /> though McMillan was reportedly appalled by Ono and Cox's poor living conditions while visiting their home. At one point McMillan asked them to "give [their daughter Kyoko Chan Cox] to someone who loves her".<ref name="Goldman 2020">{{Cite book |last=Goldman |first=Albert |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=76PSDwAAQBAJ |title=Las muchas vidas de John Lennon |year=2020 |pages=369–370 |publisher=Debols!Llo |isbn=978-84-663-5406-6 |language=es}}</ref> According to [[John Cage]] scholar James Pritchett, McMillan was "a sensitive and creative producer" at WBAI.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Pritchett |first=James |date=December 11, 2015 |title=How the Happenings happened |url=https://rosewhitemusic.com/piano/2015/12/11/how-the-happenings-happened/ |website=The piano in my life |access-date=January 14, 2025 |archive-date=January 14, 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250114034636/https://rosewhitemusic.com/piano/2015/12/11/how-the-happenings-happened/ |url-status=live }}</ref>