Robert Carl

Biography

Robert Carl (b.1954) studied composition with Jonathan Kramer, George Rochberg, Ralph Shapey, and Iannis Xenakis. His music is performed throughout the US and Europe, and is published by American Composers' Alliance, Boosey & Hawkes, Roncorp, and Apoll-Edition. His grants, prizes and residencies have come from such sources as the National Endowment for the Arts, Tanglewood, Connecticut Commission on the Arts, Camargo Foundation, MacDowell Colony, Yaddo, Ucross, Millay Colony, Bogliasco Foundation, Djerassi Foundation, the Aaron Copland House, and the Rockefeller Foundation.

He has been awarded a 2005 Chamber Music America commission for a string quintet written for the Miami String Quartet and Robert Black. An excerpt from his opera-in-progress Harmony (with novelist Russell Banks) was presented in May 2005 in the New York City Opera’s VOX Showcase series. He is also the recipient of the 1998 Charles Ives Fellowship from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. New World Records released a CD of three large string chamber works in March 2006. In 2007, Carl received a fellowship from the Asian Cultural Council for travel to Japan to research contemporary Japanese composers, and he has been commissioned by Oxford University Press to write a book on the premiere of Terry Riley’s In C.

Other CD releases of his work are found on Neuma, Koch International, Lotus, Centaur, Vienna Modern Masters, E.R.M., and The Aerial. For fifteen years he was a co-director of the Extension Works new music ensemble in Boston; he is chair of the composition department at the Hartt School of Music, University of Hartford, and writes extensively on new music for Fanfare Magazine. He studies shakuhachi with Ralph Samuelson.

ACE Publications

152 title(s)
Composer Title SCORING/INSTRUMENTATION Year
Robert Carl 100 VIEWS FROM THE BIRD'S EYE
flute (doubling alto flute in G, and piccolo); bass cl, piano
Robert Carl a-... SATB a cappella
Robert Carl AMERICAN SPACE Soprano, flute (alto flute/piccolo), clarinet/Eb clarinet, horn, violin, cello, piano
Robert Carl AN INTIMATE FIELD Cello, piano
Robert Carl BEGINNING MY STUDIES high voice, pf
Robert Carl BELLS DANCE, DRUMS RING
Percussion quartet
Robert Carl BIRDS AND FLOWERS fl,pf
Robert Carl BIRD ESCAPES CAGE; TAKES FLIGHT Solo Clarinet
Robert Carl BLESSING FOR TWO Violin and Vibraphone
Robert Carl BLUES BOX pf
Robert Carl BRAIDED BAGATELLES Piano
Robert Carl BREAKING THE SURFACE Alto saxophone, bass trombone, viola, cello
Robert Carl BROWN VELVET Bassoon and Live Electronics
Robert Carl BULLET CYCLE
2 or 3 players: sustaining instrument, plucked/struck instrument, percussive timekeeper, and electroacoustic soundtrack
Robert Carl Car Radio Rant Speaking Pianist
Robert Carl CARVING SPACE FOR SOUND solo version
trumpet solo
Robert Carl Chamber Concerto for Guitar and 10 Instruments, "The Calm Bee in the Busy Hive"
Guitar (solo) Guitar 2 Flute (dbl. picc) Clarinet in Bb Trumpet in C Vibraphone Harp Piano Violin Viola Cello
Robert Carl CHANGING MY SPOTS
any number of players, instruments, flexible duration
Robert Carl CLEAN SWEEP Shakuhachi, tape
Robert Carl CLEAN SWEEP - Acoustic Version shakuhachi, with 5 violins, plus viola or cello
Robert Carl ColdNightSnow 2 Concert Glockenspiels
Robert Carl COLORING SOUND'S SCENT Oboe, Cello, and Piano

Additional Works