ROBERT MARTIN is a Grammy nominated composer. In New York, on January 11, 2015, the North/South Consonance presented a retrospective concert of his music spanning four decades, in recognition of his musical achievements and large body of highly original work. Subsequently, they recorded it in the legendary Avatar studios.
Music critic Mike Strizic, in myentertainmentworld, writes “Martin shows an undeniable respect for tradition and a clear concision when it comes to compositional force. [He] appears to firmly grasp the summative nature of his work…for that I applaud him.” Ivan Koval writes in the Kiev Music Gazette, “Martin is an undiscovered treasure. He may be the only American composer who understands the musical aesthetics of Eastern Europe. Often his solid musical forms, with their feeling of inevitability, sound as if a modern Haydn or Mozart constructed them.”
Robert Martin began composing at age 10. He earned his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Music Composition from the Peabody Conservatory of Music. Soon after, he was awarded the Charles Ives Scholarship for outstanding music composition from the American Academy of Arts and Letters and a Fulbright Scholarship, which allowed him to pursue post-graduate studies in New York and Vienna. From there he traveled throughout the Eastern Bloc of Europe, meeting many composers. He was the 1999 recipient of the Japan-U.S. Creative Artist Fellowship in music composition.
Robert Martin’s music is often described as fresh and visionary, but at the same time it is approachable in a way that welcomes the newcomer. And it is always deeply indebted to the greatest traditions of the past. The Theodore Presser Company has published over 100 of his pieces. His music has been performed by many of the finest musicians in New York, and is recorded on the North/South Recordings, Furious Artisans, and CRI record labels.
