William Duckworth

American composer, author, teacher and internet pioneer William Duckworth was born in North Carolina on 13 January 1943. He studied at East Carolina University and the University of Illinois at Urbana. He studied composition with Ben Johnston.

Duckworth is credited with composing the first postminimal work - The Time Curve Preludes - and he was also a professor of music at Bucknell University.

In collaboration with his wife, Nora Farrell, Duckworth created the Cathedral web site, at which he published many of his compositions. The Cathedral site features an instrument called PitchWeb, which allows listeners to play along with the music. The site was also used to distribute Duckworth's iPod Opera 2.0 as a series of podcasts.

Duckworth, who spent the last months of his life writing a piano concerto for Bruce Brubaker, died of pancreatic cancer on 13 September 2012.