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.

  • instrumental quartet
  • instrumental trio
  • strings featured
  • ACE Publications

    23 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 BELLS DANCE, DRUMS RING
    Percussion quartet
    Robert Carl BREAKING THE SURFACE Alto saxophone, bass trombone, viola, cello
    Robert Carl COLORING SOUND'S SCENT Oboe, Cello, and Piano
    Robert Carl FRAGILE FAREWELL violin, cello, piano
    Robert Carl JYUN ON 2 shakuhachi, 1 Ichigenkin
    Robert Carl NamasteDante Clarinet, Bass Clarinet, Harp, and Piano
    Robert Carl Open Violin, Viola, and Cello
    Robert Carl PATH BETWEEN CLOUD AND LIGHT String Quartet
    Robert Carl Piano Quartet: "Just Listen" Piano Quartet
    Robert Carl PIANO TRIO: "Always Rising"
    vln,vc,pf
    Robert Carl PIANO TRIO NO. 2 "THE BLOSSOM"
    vln, vc, pf
    Robert Carl QUANTUM DANCES cl, vln, pf
    Robert Carl SAMPLER OF THE SENSES vla,vc,pf
    Robert Carl STONYPATH SUNRISE AND VICTORY MARCH FOR LITTLE SPARTA ob/eh,vla,hp,perc
    Robert Carl Taxonomy of Silence String Quartet or Open Quartet
    Robert Carl THREADING SPACE - BRASS TRIO brass trio and fixed media
    Trumpet in C, Horn in F, Tenor Trombone, laptop electronics (MaxMSP)
    Robert Carl TIME/MEMORY/SHADOW for double trio Double Trio
    Trio1: Violin, Cello, Piano - Trio 2: Violin (2), Viola, Harp
    Robert Carl TRANCENDANCE sop,cb(with sound processing),pf
    Robert Carl TWO FOR LE NOTRE fl,vln,viola da gamba,hpschd
    Robert Carl VILLA OF THE MYSTERIES flute (piccolo), violin, cello, piano
    Robert Carl WATERLIGHT
    pf, vib OR solo vib OR vib, hp OR vib, gtr OR 2vib OR pf, vib, glock
    Robert Carl WHERE SOUND AND THOUGHT MEET
    Soprano Saxophone in Bb; Alto Saxophone in Eb ;Tenor Saxophone in Bb; Baritone Saxophone in Eb

    Additional Works