Robert Black: A Celebration Concert

Join the Hartt community in celebrating world-renowned bass professor, Robert Black, on the occasion of his retirement from Hartt. Robert Black has been a mainstay at The Hartt School. As a graduate student through his appointment as a Hartt professor, Robert’s interests have ranged from traditional orchestral and chamber music to solo recitals of cutting-edge music,

collaborations with actors, music with computers, movement-based improvisations with dancers, and live-action painting performances with artists. Robert is a current and founding member of the Bang On A Can All-Stars, New York City’s hard-hitting music ensemble. His commissions, collaborations, and performances include work with noted musicians from John Cage to D.J. Spooky, Elliott Carter to Meredith Monk, Cecil Taylor to Paquito d’Rivera, as well as many young, emerging composers.

The program features Professor Black collaborating with former students and with faculty colleagues, including Benjamin Toth, Emlyn Ngai, Anton Miller, Katie Lansdale, Rita Porfiris, Steve Larson, Melinda Daetsch, Mihai Tetel, Andrew Gagiu, Sanga Yoon, and Christie Echols. Mirroring Professor Black’s enormous range and career, the concert program is as dazzling as it is diverse, including Dvorak Bass Quintet, Symbiosis by Erki Sven Tuur, Bass and Drums by James Sellars, and Brandenburg Concerto No 3.

The concert ends with a once-in-a-lifetime sonic experience when 28 of Professor Black’s former students join him in an outside location to perform Belglarian’s A Murmur In The Trees. The event will be held in Millard Auditorium on Sunday, September 25 from 3 – 5 pm. Admission is free but tickets are required. The Hartt Instrumental Studies Division is organizing the event. For further information email [email protected] or visit the Hartt School calendar at:

https://www.hartford.edu/academics/schools-colleges/hartt/calendar/default.aspx