Robert Moran (born January 8, 1937) is an American composer of operas and ballets as well as numerous orchestral, vocal, chamber and dance works.

Life

A native of

Denver Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...

, Moran studied

twelve-tone music The twelve-tone technique—also known as dodecaphony, twelve-tone serialism, and (in British usage) twelve-note composition—is a method of musical composition first devised by Austrian composer Josef Matthias Hauer, who published his "law o ...

privately with

Hans Apostel Hans Erich Apostel (22 January 1901 – 30 November 1972) was a German-born Austrian composer of european classical music, classical music. From 1916 to 1919 he studied piano, conducting and music theory in Karlsruhe with Alfred Lorenz. In 1920 h ...

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

and completed his

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...

degree in 1963 at

Mills College Mills College at Northeastern University is a private college in Oakland, California and part of Northeastern University's global university system. Mills College was founded as the Young Ladies Seminary in 1852 in Benicia, California; it was ...

Oakland, California Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast of the United States, West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third ...

, where he studied with

Darius Milhaud Darius Milhaud (; 4 September 1892 – 22 June 1974) was a French composer, conductor, and teacher. He was a member of Les Six—also known as ''The Group of Six''—and one of the most prolific composers of the 20th century. His compositions ...

and

Luciano Berio Luciano Berio (24 October 1925 – 27 May 2003) was an Italian composer noted for his experimental work (in particular his 1968 composition ''Sinfonia'' and his series of virtuosic solo pieces titled ''Sequenza''), and for his pioneering work ...

(Ruppenthal and Patterson 2001). After having lived for periods ranging from a few months to a couple of years in various locales, from Vienna, Berlin, New York City, and

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

Portland Portland most commonly refers to: * Portland, Oregon, the largest city in the state of Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States * Portland, Maine, the largest city in the state of Maine, in the New England region of the northeas ...

and

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

, he has made

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

his home since 1984. Many of his works have been recorded: his two albums for

Argo Records Argo Records was a record label in Chicago that was established in 1955 as a division of Chess Records. Originally the label was called Marterry, but bandleader Ralph Marterie objected, and within a couple of months the imprint was renamed Ar ...

were taken out of print, but reissued as a two CD set by

Innova Records Innova Recordings is the independent record label of the non-profit American Composers Forum based in St. Paul, Minnesota. It was founded in 1982 to document the winners of the McKnight Fellowship offered by its parent organization, the Minneso ...

, which also released a new CD of his music. Some of his music has been made available in mp3 format at the classical midi archives site (Tyranny and Anon. 2008). ''The Juniper Tree'' was issued on CD in 2009.

Works

Operas

*'' The Juniper Tree'' (1985) (co-composed with

Philip Glass Philip Glass (born January 31, 1937) is an American composer and pianist. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential composers of the late 20th century. Glass's work has been associated with minimal music, minimalism, being built up fr ...

) *''Desert of Roses'' (premiered February 1992 at

Houston Grand Opera Houston Grand Opera (HGO) is an American opera company located in Houston, Texas. Founded in 1955 by German-born impresario Walter Herbert and three local Houstonians,Giesberg, Robert I., Carl Cunningham, and Alan Rich. ''Houston Grand Opera at ...

) *''

From the Towers of the Moon ''From the Towers of the Moon'' is an opera in one act by Robert Moran, with a libretto by Michael John LaChiusa. It is based on the classic Japanese tale '' Princess Kaguya'', or ''The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter'', which tells of a princess from ...

'' (premiered March 1992 at

Minnesota Opera Minnesota Opera is a performance organization based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It was founded as the Center Opera Company in 1963 by the Walker Art Center, and is known for premiering such diverse works as ''Where the Wild Things Are'' by Oliver ...

) *''The Dracula Diary'' (premiered March 1994 at Houston Grand Opera) *''Night Passage'' (1995) Miniature operas with durations of less than ten minutes, for a variety of voices and small instrumental ensembles: "Remember Him to Me", "So Suddenly a War", "Your Pig is Dead" and others. The libretti-fragments are by

Gertrude Stein Gertrude Stein (February 3, 1874 – July 27, 1946) was an American novelist, poet, playwright, and art collector. Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in the Allegheny West neighborhood and raised in Oakland, California, Stein moved to Paris ...

Ballets

*''Rocky Road to Kansas'' (1995) *"Waltz In Memoriam Maurice Ravel" for piano *"Wendekreise" world premiere at the Bavarian State Opera, 1972 *"ALICE" full length ballet, commissioned by the Scottish Ballet, world premiere April 2011

Other works

*''For Organ'' (1967) *''Thirty Nine Minutes for Thirty Nine Autos'' (August 1969) *''Hallelujah'' (1971) *''Emblems of Passage'' (1974) *''Dream Quilt'' (1997) *''The Eternal Hour'' (1974) *''Pachelbel Promenade'' *''Waltz in Memoriam

Maurice Ravel Joseph Maurice Ravel (7 March 1875 – 28 December 1937) was a French composer, pianist and conductor. He is often associated with Impressionism along with his elder contemporary Claude Debussy, although both composers rejected the term. In ...

'' (1977) for piano (also arranged for harp by Falcao) *''Ten Miles High Over Albania'' (1983) *''Three Dances'' (1983/86) *''Survivor From Darmstadt'' (1984) *''Open Veins'' (1986) *''Halicarnassian Quartet'' *''Leipziger Kerzenspiel'' *''Three

Baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...

Songs'' (1988) *''

Requiem A Requiem or Requiem Mass, also known as Mass for the dead ( la, Missa pro defunctis) or Mass of the dead ( la, Missa defunctorum), is a Mass of the Catholic Church offered for the repose of the soul or souls of one or more deceased persons, ...

: Chant Du Cygne'' (March 1990) *''Points of Departure'' (1993) *''Seven Sounds Unseen'' (1993) *''32 Cryptograms for

Derek Jarman Michael Derek Elworthy Jarman (31 January 1942 – 19 February 1994) was an English artist, film maker, costume designer, stage designer, writer, gardener and gay rights activist. Biography Jarman was born at the Royal Victoria Nursing Home ...

'' (1995) *''

Obrigado Gratitude, thankfulness, or gratefulness is from the Latin word ''gratus,'' which means "pleasing" or "thankful." Is regarded as a feeling of appreciation (or similar positive response) by a recipient of another's kindness. This can be gifts, h ...

'' (1996) *''Voce Della Fontana'' (1998) *''Stimmen Des Letzten Siegels (Voices of the Last Seal)'' (2001) *''Trinity Requiem'' (commemorating the 10th anniversary of September 11, 2001) (2011) (Amico 2011). * ''Mantra'' recorded by the

Latvian Radio Choir The Latvian Radio Choir (Latvijas Radio koris) is the professional chamber choir of Latvian Radio which was founded in 1940 by the Latvian conductor Teodors Kalnins. Following the musical direction by Edgars Račevskis (1963–1986) and Juris Kļ ...

, from the album ''Mantra'' of Moran's works

References

*Ruppenthal, Stephen, and David Patterson. 2001. "Moran, Robert (Leonard)". ''The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'', second edition, edited by

Stanley Sadie Stanley John Sadie (; 30 October 1930 – 21 March 2005) was an influential and prolific British musicologist, music critic, and editor. He was editor of the sixth edition of the '' Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'' (1980), which was publ ...

and John Tyrrell. London: Macmillan Publishers. *Tyranny, "Blue Gene", and Anonymous. 2008.
Robert Moran: Conductor
. All Media Guide, LLC. (Accessed July 14, 2013).

External links

* *

39 Minutes for 39 Autos information. *
Ariadne.at
an example of notation.

{{DEFAULTSORT:Moran, Robert 1937 births Living people Musicians from Denver Musicians from Philadelphia 20th-century classical composers American classical musicians American male classical composers American classical composers 21st-century classical composers American opera composers Male opera composers Pupils of Darius Milhaud 21st-century American composers 20th-century American composers