Burr Van Nostrand

He grew up in San Diego where he studied painting, piano, and cello and later composition with John Glasier and Howard Brubeck.

He entered the New England Conservatory (NEC) in 1964, but while still a student at Hoover High School he had already had his compositions played by the San Diego Symphony and the La Jolla Chamber Orchestra.

Van Nostrand was part of a close circle of composers studying at Yale in the late 1960s and early 1970s which also included Stephen Mosko and Humphrey M. Evans III.

His Ventilation Manual: A Dusk Ceremonial was premiered by harpist Susan Allen and flautist Richard Stallman at the 1976 Gaudeamus Festival where it received the AVRO Young Composer's Prize.

His composing became more sporadic and he worked primarily as a cellist for several Florida orchestras including the Fort Lauderdale Symphony and Palm Beach Opera.

Struck not only by the music which seemed very ahead of its time but also by the visual beauty and complexity of Van Nostrand's graphic notation, he began a project to re-introduce the composer and his works.