Robert Michael Lombardo (born 5 March 1932) is an American

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and def ...

and composition teacher.

Life

Born in

Hartford, Connecticut Hartford is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. The city, located in Hartford County, Connecticut, Hartford County, had a population of 121,054 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 ce ...

, to Sicilian immigrants, Lombardo received his musical training at the

Hartt College of Music The Hartt School is the performing arts conservatory of the University of Hartford, a private university in West Hartford, Connecticut. Founded in 1920 by Julius Hartt and Moshe Paranov, Hartt has been part of the University of Hartford since it ...

, the

University of Hartford The University of Hartford (UHart) is a private university in West Hartford, Connecticut, United States. Its main campus extends into neighboring Hartford and Bloomfield. It enrolled approximately 6,000 undergraduate and graduate students as ...

(BMus., composition ''cum laude'', 1954, MMus., composition, 1955),Official website - comprehensive biography
/ref> Hochschule für Musik, Berlin (1958–1959) and the

University of Iowa The University of Iowa (U of I, UIowa, or Iowa) is a public university, public research university in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. Founded in 1847, it is the oldest and largest university in the state. The University of Iowa is organized int ...

(Ph.D., composition, 1959–1961). His principal composition teacher was

Arnold Franchetti Arnold Franchetti (1911–1993) was a composer born in Lucca, Italy who later emigrated to the United States. Early life As a boy, Franchetti studied composition and piano with his father, Baron Alberto Franchetti (1860–1942). Arnold Franchetti ...

.Official website - brief bio
/ref> He also studied with Philip Bezanson and

Boris Blacher Boris Blacher (30 January 1975) was a German composer and librettist. Life Blacher was born when his parents (of German-Estonian and Russian backgrounds) were living within a Russian-speaking community in the Manchurian town of Niuzhuang () (h ...

."Robert Lombardo" at the Northwestern University Library
/ref> Lombardo began teaching music theory at the

in 1959, then moved to Hartt College in 1963. In 1964, Lombardo became Professor of theory and composition and Composer-in-Residence at The Music Conservatory of Chicago College of Performing Arts at

Roosevelt University Roosevelt University is a private university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Founded in 1945, the university was named in honor of United States President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt. The university enrolls arou ...

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

, a position he would hold for 35 years until 1999.

Works

Lombardo's compositions include over 200 works for opera, orchestra, chamber music, instrumental solos, choral music, musicals, and electronic music. He has collaborated with his wife, Kathleen,

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator (thought, thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral t ...

and

playwright A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes play (theatre), plays, which are a form of drama that primarily consists of dialogue between Character (arts), characters and is intended for Theatre, theatrical performance rather than just Readin ...

, on several compositions. Lombardo is also one of the few composers writing for the

mandolin A mandolin (, ; literally "small mandola") is a Chordophone, stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally Plucked string instrument, plucked with a plectrum, pick. It most commonly has four Course (music), courses of doubled St ...

. Dimitris Marinos performed his Concerto for Mandolin and String Quartet in a world premiere in Chicago in 1995. In addition, Marinos has recorded six of Lombardo's compositions. Lombardo's works have been performed all over the world. In 1992, contemporary music group CUBE performed his work, in

hosted a performance of several of his works on his 80th birthday. And for these, Lombardo has been the recipient of multiple awards. In 1964, he received a

Guggenheim Fellowship Guggenheim Fellowships are Grant (money), grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, endowed by the late Simon Guggenheim, Simon and Olga Hirsh Guggenheim. These awards are bestowed upon indiv ...

in Music Composition, and two grants from the

National Endowment for the Arts The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created in 1965 as an independent agency of the feder ...

and three

Ford Foundation The Ford Foundation is an American private foundation with the stated goal of advancing human welfare. Created in 1936 by Edsel Ford and his father Henry Ford, it was originally funded by a $25,000 (about $550,000 in 2023) gift from Edsel Ford. ...

Grants in 1962, 1963 and 1964 among others. Lombardo's works are not limited to simply compositions; he is also respected for his commissions, which include an important work commissioned by the

Serge Koussevitzky Serge Koussevitzky (born Sergey Aleksandrovich Kusevitsky;Koussevitzky's original Russian forename is usually transliterated into English as either "Sergei" or "Sergey"; however, he himself adopted the French spelling "Serge", using it in his sig ...

Foundation and housed in the Library of Congress. Lombardo's papers, including musical scores and correspondence, are housed at the

Northwestern University Library Northwestern University Libraries is the main academic library system of Northwestern University. Northwestern Libraries host a total of 8,198,268 printed or electronic volumes. In addition, its libraries contain 229,198 maps, 211,127 audio fi ...

References

External links

Official website
* *http://www.crosssound.com/CSarchives/SOLOISTS/musiciansall.html

January, 1992 {{DEFAULTSORT:Lombardo, Robert American male composers 21st-century American composers 1932 births Living people 21st-century American male musicians