Born in New York City in 1939, Teitelbaum received a BA from Haverford College and a Master of Music degree from Yale. After two years on a Fulbright to Italy, he brought the first Moog synthesizer to Europe, performing over 200 concerts with it and helping to found the pioneering live electronic music group Musica Elettronica Viva, with Frederic Rzewski, Alvin Curran and others in Rome in 1966. Teitelbaum has toured worldwide and received numerous awards. He currently teaches composition and electronic music at Bard College where he is Director of the Electronic Music Studio.