Queer Places:
University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI 53706
Union Cemetery Washington, Tazewell County, Illinois, USA
Robert B. Nofsinger (July 11, 1963, Peoria, Illinois - January 19, 1993,
San Francisco, California) was a composer, pianist and singer.
Robert
Nofsinger was raised on a quiet Illinois farm and began taking piano lessons
at the age of eight. His first major composition was the sound track to a
movie he made with friends at Washington High School.
He studied music
at Goshen College in Indiana and University of Wisconsin at Madison, and also
attended schools in England and Taiwan. He then moved to San Francisco. There
he taught Chinese at a public high school and studied the language
independently while continuing his work as a composer and singer. Nofsinger
was a member of the Society of Gay and Lesbian Composers (SGLC), and served as
recording secretary for some years until 1991.
Several of his
compositions, such as Upon Leaving for Taiwan, were performed in SGLC concerts
in 1988 and 1989. His Feng Qiao Ye Bo (Anchored at Night by Maple Bridge),
Portas Coeli for men's chorus, and Rainbow Song for voice and piano were
performed at an SGLC concert given in his memory in June 1993.
He was
a member of the Metamora Mennonite Church.
Robert Nofsinger died of
AIDS in San Francisco at the age of 29 on January 19, 1993.
—Nurit
Tilles
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