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.

  • solo instrument(s) featured+ens 3 to 6 players
  • ACE Publications

    152 title(s)
    Composer Title SCORING/INSTRUMENTATION Year
    Robert Carl Growth Fugue string quartet
    Robert Carl HAIKU OF BUSON
    Narrator/improviser, tape/CD
    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 IN FLIGHT TOGETHER/IN FLUG ZUSAMMEN Violin and Organ
    Robert Carl INEVITABLE WAVE for 8 percusionists and fixed media audio
    8 percussionists, audio playback
    Robert Carl INEVITABLE WAVE for chamber orchestra and fixed media audio fl/dbl pic, ob, cl/bscl, Bari sax/dbl sop. sax, bsn; horn, tpt C, bstbn, tba, timp, perc(3), piano, strings
    chamber orchestra, fixed media
    Robert Carl INFINITY AVENUE improvisation ensemble, max MSP live sound processing
    Robert Carl JYUN ON 2 shakuhachi, 1 Ichigenkin
    Robert Carl LA VILLE ENGLOUTIE 4333 4331, timp (3), perc (4), db
    4 fl (4th doubling picc), 3 ob (3rd doubling E.hn), 3 cl in Eb, Bs clar, sop-alt-ten-bari saxophone, 3 bsn, 4 hns, 3 tpt in C, 2 tenor tbn, bass tbn, euph, tuba, Timpani (3 drums), 4 perc; Cb.
    Robert Carl LESGEDOWNDAHEAH tpt in C, 2 alsax, tensax, tbn, 2 elec gtr, bass gtr, 2 perc, pf
    Robert Carl LIBERTY
    2pf, 3perc
    Robert Carl MAGIC ACT
    violin, marimba
    Robert Carl MARFANTASIE
    fl/alto fl, 2 alto sax, bscl, elec guit, Perc (1), 6 vlns, 2 vla, 2 vcl, 1 cb
    Robert Carl MATTER OF SCALE
    Chamber orchestra: pic/2-2-2-2; 2-2-0-0; perc; str
    Robert Carl NACH (TRAUM) IST KOMMEN pf
    Robert Carl NamasteDante Clarinet, Bass Clarinet, Harp, and Piano
    Robert Carl NIGHT GARDEN 5 Double Basses
    Robert Carl ONE SLIPS, ONE SKIPS 2 vln
    Robert Carl Open Violin, Viola, and Cello
    Robert Carl OPEN EMPTY mixed sextet: fl/pic, cl, perc(1), kbs, vln, vcl
    Robert Carl OUR HEART AND HOME IS WITH INFINITUDE Soprano and Piano
    Robert Carl OUR MEETING IS INEVITABLE
    2 Trumpets in C, Horn in F, Tenor Trombone, Tuba
    Robert Carl PATH BETWEEN CLOUD AND LIGHT String Quartet
    Robert Carl PENSÉES NOCTURNES
    Sop, vln, vc, pf
    Robert Carl Piano Quartet: "Just Listen" Piano Quartet

    Additional Works