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.

  • wind ensemble
  • 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