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 List of municipalities in Colorado#Consolidated city and county, consolidated city and county, the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Colorado, most populous city of the U.S. state of ...

, Moran studied twelve-tone music privately with Hans Apostel in

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

and completed his

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA or AM) 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. Those admitted to the degree have ...

degree in 1963 at

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

Oakland, California Oakland is a city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area in the U.S. state of California. It is the county seat and most populous city in Alameda County, California, Alameda County, with a population of 440,646 in 2020. A major We ...

, 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 composition ...

and

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

(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 ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...

Portland Portland most commonly refers to: *Portland, Oregon, the most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon *Portland, Maine, the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maine *Isle of Portland, a tied island in the English Channel Portland may also r ...

and

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

, he has made

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

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 in music, 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 w ...

were taken out of print, but reissued as a two CD set by Innova Records, 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 (composer), 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 tel ...

'' (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 The Walker Art Center is a multidisciplinary contemporary art center in the Lowry Hill ...

) *''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 Allegheny, Pennsylvania (now part of Pittsburgh), and raised in Oakland, California, Stein moved to Paris in 1903, and ...

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 in music, Impressionism along with his elder contemporary Claude Debussy, although both composer ...

'' (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 Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...

Songs'' (1988) *''

Requiem A Requiem (Latin: ''rest'') or Requiem Mass, also known as Mass for the dead () or Mass of the dead (), is a Mass of the Catholic Church offered for the repose of the souls of the deceased, using a particular form of the Roman Missal. It is ...

: 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, poet, gardener, and gay rights activist. Biography Jarman was born at the Royal Victoria Nursing ...

'' (1995) *''

Obrigado Gratitude, thankfulness, or gratefulness is a feeling of appreciation (or similar positive response) by a recipient of another's kindness. This kindness can be gifts, help, favors, or another form of generosity to another person. The word come ...

'' (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 K ...

, 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 a British musicologist, music critic, and editor. He was editor of the sixth edition of the '' Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'' (1980), which was published as the first edition ...

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 American classical composers American classical musicians 21st-century American classical composers American opera composers American male opera composers Pupils of Darius Milhaud