Lubomyr Melnyk

Continuous music

Lubomyr Melnyk was born on December 22, 1948 in Munich to Ukrainian parents and grew up in Winnipeg, where he lived from 1950 to 1969. He has written more than 120 works, mostly for solo piano or two pianos, in a style he calls continuous music: rapid, unbroken streams of notes with the sustain pedal held so that overtones and sympathetic resonance build up. He told The Quietus in 2015 that the idea began in Paris in the early 1970s, where he played for modern dance classes, among them Carolyn Carlson's at the Paris Opera, inspired by the minimalist scene and by Indian musicians; NPR says he began developing it after hearing Terry Riley's In C. He cites Ukrainian folk music as well.

KMH: Piano Music in the Continuous Mode appeared in 1979, and a treatise, Open Time: The Art of Continuous Music, in 1981. In 1985, at Sigtuna Stiftelsen in Sweden, he set two documented records: more than 19.5 notes per second in each hand, and 13 to 14 notes per second for a full hour. Most of his recordings before 2013 were on his own or small labels; Erased Tapes called Corollaries (April 7, 2013) his first release on another label since 1981. Evertina (2014), Rivers and Streams (2015), illirion (2016, Sony Classical) and Fallen Trees (December 7, 2018) followed, along with a 2018 book of sheet music, Continuous Music Selected Works. He has worked with Hauschka, Peter Broderick and Nils Frahm.

Cherwell reported Oxford concerts in November 2025 and February 2026, a documentary, The Peace Piano, and a Cambridge and Goldsmiths team studying flow states at his shows. Erased Tapes calls him the prophet of the piano. His students include Ell Kendall and Matthew Thomasson.