Robert Reynolds Ashley was an American composer, who was best known for his television operas and other theatrical works, many of which incorporate electronics and extended techniques.
24 Facts About Robert Ashley
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Robert Ashley studied at the University of Michigan from 1948 to 1952, where he met Ross Lee Finney in 1949.
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Robert Ashley was a co-founder of the ONCE Group, as well as a member of the Sonic Arts Union, which included David Behrman, Alvin Lucier, and Gordon Mumma.
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The majority of Robert Ashley's recordings have been released by Lovely Music, which was founded by Performing Artservices, the not-for-profit management organization which represents Robert Ashley and other artists.
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Since he first came to prominence, Robert Ashley was indelibly linked to the performance of his pieces, particularly through the use of his voice in such works as Automatic Writing and Perfect Lives.
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Robert Ashley collaborated with various artists in terms of reading text.
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Robert Ashley was featured, alongside Kunga Rinpoche, on Eliane Radigue's 1987 piece Mila's Journey Inspired by a Dream.
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On December 9,1992, Robert Ashley publicly read William Gibson's electronic poem Agrippa, on its premiere at The Kitchen in Chelsea, Manhattan.
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Robert Ashley's reading, known as The Transmission, was recorded and simultaneously transmitted to several other cities only once.
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Robert Ashley had one son, Sam, from his first marriage to Mary Tsaltas.
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Robert Ashley died at his home in Tribeca on March 3,2014, from liver disease at the age of 83.
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Robert Ashley wrote multiple operas and many other pieces for combinations of instruments, voices, and electronics.
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Robert Ashley says that each of these scenarios is in reality the simultaneous dream of the protagonist, happening at the focal moment of Perfect Lives.
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Robert Ashley has ascribed various meanings to the individual elements of the trilogy.
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Perfect Lives represents life in the Midwest, which Robert Ashley was interested in "because it was flat".
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Robert Ashley says in the liner notes to Atalanta that the three works represent "architecture, agriculture, and genealogy", respectively.
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Robert Ashley used his own involuntary speech that results from what he says is his Tourette syndrome as one of the voices in the music.
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Robert Ashley stated that he wondered since Tourette's had to do with "sound-making and because the manifestation of the syndrome seemed so much like a primitive form of composing whether the syndrome was connected in some way to his obvious tendencies as a composer".
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Robert Ashley was intrigued by his involuntary speech, and the idea of composing music that was unconscious.
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Robert Ashley appreciated the use of voice and words for more than their explicit denotation, believing their rhythm and inflection could convey meaning without being able to understand the actual phonemes.
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Robert Ashley engineered the first version of the piece using live electronics and reactive computer circuitry.
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Robert Ashley recorded his vocal part himself, with the mic barely an inch from his mouth and the recording level just shy of feedback.
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Robert Ashley then added "subtle and eerie modulations" to the recording, modifying his voice to the point that much of what he read could not be understood.
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Robert Ashley commenced this series by writing a list of forty nine titles for projects, the rhythm of the title often influencing the rhythm of the subsequent project or opera.