Mark Robson (composer)

Mark Robson (* 1957 ) is an American composer and pianist.

As a child, Robson had piano and later also flute and organ lessons. He wrote his first compositions at the age of nine. He attended the Conservatory of Oberlin College and studied at the University of Southern California . He completed his piano training in Paris, where he studied Ondes Martenot . His teachers included Lydia Frumkin , Yvonne Loriod , Alain Motard , John Perry and James Bonn .

From 1991 to 2005 Robson worked as a répétiteur and assistant conductor at the Los Angeles Opera . As a conductor, he worked with the Brentwood-Westwood Symphony Orchestra , which also premiered two of his compositions, Apollo Rising and Christmas Suite . He worked as a musical assistant at the Salzburg and Spoleto music festivals.

In 1994 he was one of the founding members of the Piano Spheres , a group of pianists devoted to performing seldom played contemporary compositions. As a piano soloist he performed a. a. in the Salle Marguerite Gaveau and Salle Cortot in Paris, the Paleis Het Loo in the Netherlands, at the James Madison University and at the Spoleto Festival . He performed Olivier Messiaen's piano cycle Vingt regards sur l'enfant-Jésus several times . He also played all of Beethoven's piano sonatas in a series of concerts .

From 2006 to 2007 Robson taught at Chapman University . Since 2007 he has been teaching voice training and phrasing at the Herb Alpert School of Music at the California Institute of the Arts .

Works

• Apollo Rising for orchestra
• Christmas Suite for Orchestra
• Dances and Dirges , trio for piano, cello and clarinet
• 24 Preludes for the Left Hand , piano cycle
• Initiation , melodrama for speaker, piano and percussion
• Trio for three bassoons
• A Child of Air , song cycle (recording with Patricia Prunty )