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LUBOMYR MELNYK was born in Munich, 1948, into a Ukrainian refugee family. He lived in Winnipeg from 1950 to 1969, earned a degree in Latin and Philosophy from St. Paul's College in Winnipeg, and did postgraduate work in Philosophy at Queen's University in Kingston, 1969-70. From 1973-75, Melnyk lived in Paris. He supported himself by playing for modern dance classes, and many of the works of his Paris years were presented in conjunction with modern dance. It was there that he began to create 'continuous music' for piano.
On his return to Canada, Melnyk began to perform in art galleries and alternate spaces, as well as presenting his new 'language' for the piano in lecture-recitals throughout Canada and Europe. Since the early 70's, Melnyk has composed over 90 works, mostly for piano solo or ensemble. In order to explain the mechanism of reading the score and performing it with the proper hand motions, Melnyk wrote the treatise OPEN TIME: The Art of Continuous Music (1981) and 22 Etudes, to teach the fundamental levels of the continuous technique.
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