Harry Partch (1901-1974) was an American composer, theorist, instrument maker, and performer who integrated varied elements of human speech and linguistics into his music compositions. He was one of the first twentieth-century composers to work systematically with microtonal scales, writing much of his music for custom-built instruments that he made himself. In 1956 the University of Illinois employed Harry Partch as a composer in residence, a position he held until 1961, and his time at Illinois enabled him to premiere in 1957 his masterpiece The Bewitched at the University’s 8th Festival of Contemporary Arts. Rotate the Body in All its Planes (1961) was created near the end of Partch's career at Illinois and featured gymnastic tumblers, women’s/men’s voices, string bass, piccolo, trumpet, trombone, tuba, drums, and a variety of his unique music instruments. This exhibit briefly explores the extraordinary life and music of America’s most iconoclastic composer of the twentieth century.