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
  • orchestra
  • string quartet (alone or + inst or voc)
  • ACE Publications

    24 title(s)
    Composer Title SCORING/INSTRUMENTATION Year
    Robert Carl BELLS DANCE, DRUMS RING
    Percussion quartet
    Robert Carl BREAKING THE SURFACE Alto saxophone, bass trombone, viola, cello
    Robert Carl GROWING UP str qrt: 2-1-1
    Robert Carl Growth Fugue string quartet
    Robert Carl Images of Birth
    orch: 2-2-2-bcl-2-cbsn; 4-3-3-1; perc(3); harp, pf/cel; solo vln; str
    Robert Carl NamasteDante Clarinet, Bass Clarinet, Harp, and Piano
    Robert Carl PATH BETWEEN CLOUD AND LIGHT String Quartet
    Robert Carl Piano Quartet: "Just Listen" Piano Quartet
    Robert Carl QUINTET FOR CLARINET AND STRINGS
    clarinet in Bb, string quartet
    Robert Carl STARS' HARMONY;THE NIGHT'S PLEASURE, THE orch: 3-3-3-3, 4-3-3-1, kbd, hp, 3perc, str
    Robert Carl STONYPATH SUNRISE AND VICTORY MARCH FOR LITTLE SPARTA ob/eh,vla,hp,perc
    Robert Carl STRING QUARTET No. 2 “Fear of Death/Love of Life” String Quartet
    Robert Carl String Quartet No. 3 - “Spatial/Temporal, Abstract/Visceral, Transcendent/Humane” String Quartet
    Robert Carl Symphony No. 2, "Liberty and/or Death"
    orch: 3/pic-3/eh-3/bcl/Ebcl-2-cbsn; 4-3(in C)/D-3/btbn-1; 3perc; pf/org; str
    Robert Carl SYMPHONY NO. 3 'THE WORLD TURNED UPSIDE DOWN'
    orch: pic/3-3/eh-3/bcl-3; 4-3-2/1btbn-1; harp; piano; timpani; 3perc; strings
    Robert Carl SYMPHONY NO. 4 "The Ladder" 3333 4331 altosx pf/cel, timp, perc(4), strings
    Robert Carl SYMPHONY No. 5 "Land" 3333 4332 alto saxophone, timp(4) perc(4), piano/cel, strings
    Robert Carl Symphony No.6, "Dome of Refuge" 3 fl (#3 dbl picc); 2 ob; 3 cl (#3 dbl bscl); 2 bsn; soprano/alto/tenor/baritone saxophones; 4 horns in F; 3 tpt in C; 2 tenor trombones; bass tbn; tuba; timp; 6 perc; harp; piano/synthesizer; strings
    Robert Carl Taxonomy of Silence String Quartet or Open Quartet
    Robert Carl TRANSCENDENTAL CAKEWALK (orch version) 2222 4221 perc(2) timp(4) electric guitar, piano, strings
    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 WHERE SOUND AND THOUGHT MEET
    Soprano Saxophone in Bb; Alto Saxophone in Eb ;Tenor Saxophone in Bb; Baritone Saxophone in Eb
    Robert Carl WHITE HERON 3(dbl picc)-3(dbl ehn)-3-3, 4-3-3-1, timp, hp, 3 perc, strings

    Additional Works