Merrill Ellis

Merrill Ellis (1916–1981) was an American composer, intermedia performer, and experimental music researcher, best known for his innovative compositional techniques and custom-built electronic instruments, as well as original notation for scoring intermedia performances. He received BMus (1939) and MMus (1940) degrees from the University of Oklahoma and pursued graduate studies at The University of Missouri. Ellis also studied composition privately with Roy Harris, Spencer Norton, and Darius Milhaud. In 1962, Merrill Ellis joined the Division of Composition Studies at the University of North Texas and established Electronic Music Center (EMC) there one year later. The tape studio acquired first Moog synthesizer in the middle of the sixties, and Ellis became a pioneer in composing and performing live music on Moog machines. He collaborated with Robert Moog and commissioned the inventor to build a portable synthesizer for him and doctoral students at EMC. Moog named his second model E-II as an homage to Merrill. After Ellis had passed away, EMC studios were expanded and renamed Center For Experimental Music And Intermedia, University Of North Texas, Denton (CEMI). Phil Winsor and Larry Austin co-directed CEMI from 1983 to 1990.