Robert Ashley - PRESS KIT

Articles, Reviews, Interviews

• A "visionary composer inspires a new generation of followers", Time Out NY (2011)
• A review of Dust at La Mama from New York Press (2009)
• A review of Made out of Concrete at La Mama from Feast of Music (2009)
• A review of Celestial Excursions at La Mama from The New York Times (2009)
• A review of Dust at La Mama from The New York Times (2009)
• A review of Dust at La Mama from Backstage.com (2009)
• A preview of the Three Opera run at La Mama from The Village Voice (2009)
• An interview with Robert Ashley from Tokafi (2009)
• An article by Robert Ashley about his ensemble from Sequenza21.com (2009)
• An article by Tom Hamilton about Robert Ashley from New Music Box (2008)
• An interview with Robert Ashley on WFMU (2008)
• An interview with Robert Ashley on WNYC (2008)
• A review of Concrete from Blurt (2008)
• A review of Concrete from Tokafi (2008)
• A review of Concrete from Cyclic Defrost (2008)
• A revew of Tapdancing in the Sand from Tokafi (2008)
• An article about Lovely Music, featuring Private Parts and Dust from Stylus Magazine (2007)
• A review of Now Eleanor's Idea from Dusted (2007)
• An article on Concrete from New York Press (2007)
• An interview about Concrete from Arts Electric (2007)
• An interview from WNYU (2007)
• An interview about Concrete from WNYC (2007)
• A review of Concrete from Paris Transatlantic (2007)
• A review of Concrete from blogger James Wagner (2007)
• A review of Concrete from blogger Brian Sacawa (2007)
• An article by Jacqueline Humbert about Concrete from New Music Box (2007)
• An article about Concrete from The New York Times (2007)
• A review of Concrete from The New York Times (2007)
• A brief review of Concrete from The New Yorker (2007)
• An article about Concrete from blogger Steve Smith (2007)
• A brief review of In Sara, Mencken, Christ and Beethoven from blogger Daniel Wolf (2007)
• A review of Celestial Excursions from Dusted (2006)
• A review of Celestial Excursions from Musicworks (2006)
• An interview of RA and Keith Waldrop discussing In Sara... with Kenneth Goldsmith on WFMU (2006)
• Robert Ashley discusses Wolfman for BBC Radio 3 (2005)
• An article on Celestial Excursions from blogger Kyle Gann (2005)
• An article on Celestial Excursions from blogger Steve Smith (2005)
• An article by Arthur Sabatini on Music with Roots in the Ether from Millenium Film Journal. (2004)
• An article on Celestial Excursions from New York Press (2003)
• A review of Celestial Excursions from The New York Times (2003)
• A review of Celestial Excursions from electro-music.com (2003)
• An interview about Celestial Excursions from WNYC (2003)
• A review of Celestial Excursions from The Village Voice (2003)
• Robert Ashley discusses Celestial Excursions for the Foundation for Contemporary Arts (2003)
• A major article by Thom Holmes on Ashley's career and Celestial Excursions, in The Wire (August 2003)
• An article about Purposeful Lady, Slow Afternoon from blogger waggish (2003)
• A review of Wolfman from Dusted (2003)
• A review of Foreign Experiences from Miami New Times (2002)
• A statement by Robert Ashley about his vocal writing technique from Foundation for Contemporary Arts (2002)
• A review of a concert with Walter Marchetti from The Village Voice (2001)
• An interview with focus on Dust from New Music Box (2001)
• A review of Dust from The Village Voice (2000)
• A review of Dust from La Folia (2000)
• A review of String Quartet Describing the Motions of Large, Real Bodies from incursion.org (2000)
• A brief review of Dust from The Village Voice (1999)
• A review of Your Money My Life Goodbye from The Denver Westword (1999)
• An article on Dust from New York Press (1999)
• A review of Dust from the New Music Connoisseur (1999)
• A review of Dust from The New York Times (1999)
• An interview with Robert Ashley from Perfect Sound Forever (1997)
• An overview of several recordings from Rubberneck (1997)
• An article on When Famous Last Words Fail You from The American Composers' Orchestra (1997)
• A review of When Famous Last Words Fail You from The American Composers' Orchestra (1997)
• An interview from Dutch radio VPRO (1996)
• A review of eL/Aficionado from Vital Weekly (1995)
• A review of Now Eleanor's Idea from The New York Times (1994)
• A review of a concert at Merkin Hall from The New York Times (1992)
• Robert Ashley discusses Perfect Lives from Felix (1992)
• A review of eL/Aficionado from The New York Times (1991)
• An article about Perfect Lives from The St. Louis Post-Dispatch (1991)
• A review of Improvement from The New York Times (1991)
• A review of Atalanta from The New York Times (1985)
• A review of Atalanta from MIT's student newspaper (1985)
• An interview with composer Peter Gena (1984)
• An interview on KPFA from Internet Archive (1983)
• A review of Atalanta from The New York Times (1983)
• A review of The Lessons from The New York Times (1981)
• An interview by pianist Thomas Moore about Perfect Lives (1981)
• An interview from the NPR archives from American Mavericks (1979)
• Christgau reviews Private Parts and Perfect Lives (1978/80)
• A collection of short reviews of String Quartet Describing the Motions of Large, Real Bodies from o-art.org (1973)
• An interview about the Mills Center for Contemporary Music by Charles Amirkhanian on KPFA from Internet Archive. (1969)
• Audio of Untitled Mixes available from Art of the States
• Audio excerpts available from ubuweb
• Video and commentary about MWRITE available from ubuweb and PennSound
• Text and commentary about In Sara, Mencken, Christ and Beethoven from ubuweb
• Peter Greenaway's Four American Composers available from ubuweb
• Scores available from Smith Publications

Robert Ashley - Bibliography

By Robert Ashley

• Quicksand
  Santa Fe: Burning Books
  (2011)
  
  
• Atalanta (Acts of God)
  Santa Fe: Burning Books
  207 pages (2010)
  
  
• Outside of Time
  Scores, Notes, Writings
  Cologne: Edition MusikTexte
  English-German, 656 pages (2009)
  
  
• Music with Roots in the Aether
  Interviews with and Essays about Seven American Composers
  Cologne: Edition MusikTexte
  244 pages (2002)
  
  
• Vidas Perfectas
  Una opera de Robert Ashley, traducción de Javier Sainz de Robles.
  “Oir Para Ver: Robert Ashley,” by Llorenç Barber.
  “Sinopsis,” by Robert Ashley. “Prologo del Traductor,” by Javier Sainz de Robles.
  Cordoba, Spain: Junta de Andalucia / Filmoteca de Andalucia (1992)
  
  
• Perfect Lives
  Opera libretto
  San Francisco: Burning Books/Archer Fields
  220 pages (1991)
  
  
• The guests go in to supper
  Improvement (opera libretto)
  Texts, scores and ideas of seven American composers: Ashley, Ono, Cage Anderson, Amirkhanian, Peppe, Atchley.
  San Francisco: Burning Books
  (1987)
  
  
• The Future of Music
  Lecture given at UCSD (2000)
  
  

About Robert Ashley

• Robert Ashley: A Biography
  Kyle Gann
  University of Illinois Press
  Publication date: 12/01/2012.
  
  

• Robert Ashley: Defining American Opera
  Arthur J. Sabatini
  PAJ: A Journal of Performance and Art
  Volume 27, Number 2 (PAJ 80), May (2005)
  MIT Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02142
  An electronic, full text version of PAJ is available from The MIT Press. (subscription)
  
  
• Art, Performance Media: 31 Interviews
  Interview with Robert Ashley from 1991
  Nicholas Zurbrugg, Editor
  University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis, London, (2004)
  http://www.upress.umn.edu
  also readable at books.google.com
  
  
• ReViewing Robert Ashley’s “Music with Roots in the Aether”, the first opera for television
  Arthur J. Sabatini
  Millennium Film Journal
  No. 42, Fall 2004, Video: Vintage and Current
  Millennium Film Workshop, 66 East 4th Street, New York, NY 10003
  MFJ is also published on the Internet. The URL for the website of the journal is http://www.mfj-online.org
  
  
• The Sonic Landscapes of Robert Ashley by Arthur Sabatini
  Land/Scape/Theater
  Elinor Fuchs and Una Chauhuri, editors
  The University of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor, MI (2002)
  
  
• Electronic and Experimental Music: pioneers in technology and composition
  by Thomas B. Holmes
  Routledge Books, New York, NY (2002)
  
  
• Performance artists talking in the eighties: Sex, Food, Money/Fame, Ritual/Death
  by Linda Montano
  University of California Press, Berkeley, CA (2001)
  
  
• 20/20: 20 New Sounds of the 20th Century
  by William Duckworth
  Schirmer Books, New York, NY (1999)
  
  
• Contemporary Composers on Contemporary Music
  by Elliott Schwartz, Barney Childs
  Da Capo Press, New York, NY (1998)
  
  
• The Other Side of Echo: The Adventures of a Dyke-Mestiza-Chicana-Marimacha Ranchera Singer in (Robert) Ashleyland, by Christian Herold
  Women & Performance: a journal of feminist theory. Issue 18, 9:2.
  New York University, New York, NY (1998)
  
  
• American Music in the 20th Century
  by Kyle Gann
  Schirmer Books, New York (1997)
  
  
• Electric Sound: the Past and Promise of Electronic Music
  by Joel Chadabe
  Prentice-Hall, Inc., New Jersey (1997)
  
  
• Conjunctions 28
  Bi-Annual Volumes of New Writing. Bradford Morrow, Editor
  Secular Psalms: Music Theater Portfolio (guest edited by Thalia Field).
  From Foreign Experiences
  Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, New York (1997)
  
  
• New Voices: American Composers Talk about Their Music
  And So It Goes, Depending (1981) and The Backyard (1983), by Geoff Smith & Nicola Walker Smith
  Stuart Saunders Smith and Thomas De Lio, Editors and Contributors
  Amadeus Press, Portland, Oregon (1995)
  
  
• Happenings and Other Acts
  "The Once Group: Three Pieces", by Robert Ashley
  Mariellen B. Sandford, Editor
  Routledge, New York, NY (1995)
  
  
• "Ideas from the Church"
  o·blek, A Journal of Lanugage Arts, edited by Peter Gizzi and Connell McGrath. Special issue dedicated to Rosemarie and Keith Waldrop to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Burning Deck. The Garlic Press, Stockbridge, Massachusetts (1991)
  
  
• Words and Spaces
  An Anthology of Twentieth Century Musical Experiments in Language and Sonic Environments. "And So It Goes, Depending" (1981) and "The Backyard" (1983), by Robert Ashley
  Stuart Saunders Smith and Thomas De Lio, Editors and Contributors
  University Press of America, Lanham, New York, London (1989)
  
  
• The Voice of New Music: New York City 1972-1982
  by Tom Johnson
  A collection of articles originally published in The Village Voice.
  Het Apollohuis, Eindhoven, The Netherlands (1989)
  available for download.
  
  
• Robert Ashley: an interview. conducted by Peter Gena; filmed by Video Data Bank. (1988)
  
  
• The guests go in to supper
  Texts, scores and ideas of seven American composers: Ashley, Ono, Cage Anderson, Amirkhanian, Peppe, Atchley.
  Burning Books, San Francisco, CA & Santa Fe, NM (1987)
  
  
• Formations
  Volume 2, No. 1
  "Space and Time in the World" by David Bailin
  University of Wisconsin Press (1985)
  
  
• Contiguous Lines: Issues and Ideas in the Music of the 60s and 70s
  Edited by Thomas Di Lio
  "Sound Gesture and Symbols", by Thomas De Lio
  University Press of America, Lanham, Maryland (1985)
  
  
• Electronic and Experimental Music
  by Thomas B. Holmes
  Charles Scribners Sons Publishers, New York (1985)
  
  
• Circumscribing the Open Universe
  Essays on: John Cage, Morton Feldman, Christian Wolff, Robert Ashley, Alvin Lucier
  "Structural Pluralism" by Thomas De Lio
  University Press of America, Lanham, New York, London (1984)
  
  
• All American Music: Composers in the Late 20th Century
  by John Rockwell
  Alfred A. Knopf Publishers, New York (1983)
  
  
• Soundpieces: Interviews with American Composers
  by Cole Gagne and Tracy Caras
  Scarecrow Press, Inc., Metuchen, New Jersey/London (1982)
  
  
• Desert Plants
  by Walter Zimmerman
  Vancouver, Canada (1978)
  
  
• Experimental Music: Cage and Beyond
  by Michael Nyman
  Schirmer Books, New York (1974)
  
  
• Twentieth Century Music: An Introduction
  by Eric Salzman
  Prentice-Hall, New York (1967, 1974 & 1987 - 3rd Edition)
  
  
• Chambers
  by Alvin Lucier
  Wesleyan University Press, Middletown, CT (1980)
  
  
• Breaking the Sound Barrier: A Critical Anthology of the New Music
  edited by Gregory Battcock
  Dutton Publishing Co., New York (1981)
  
  
• Scores: An Anthology of New Music
  by Roger Johnson
  Schirmer Books, New York (1981)
  
  
• New Sounds: A Listener's Guide to New Music
  by John Schaefer
  Harper and Row, New York (1987)
  
  
• Resolution: A Critique of Video Art
  Edited by Patti Podesta
  LACE (Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions) (1986)
  
  
• Shadow Show
  by Jamake Highwater
  Alfred Van Der Marck Editions, New York (1986)
  
  
• Recombinant Do Re Mi: Frontiers of the Rock Era
  by Billy Bergman and Richard Horn
  Quill, New York (1985)

Publisher Addresses

Conjunctions
Bard College
Annandale-on Hudson
P.O. Box 9911
Red Hook, NY 12571-9911

Amadeus Press (an imprint of Timber Press, Inc.)
The Haseltine Building
123 West Second Avenue, Suite 450
Portland, OR 97204

Routledge, 29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001
Routledge, 11 Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE (1995)

o·blek
box 1242
Stockbridge, MA 01262
(Peter Gizzi and Connell McGrath, Editors)
dist: Small Press Distribution

Small Press Distribution
1814 San Pablo Avenue
Berkeley, CA 94702

Prentice-Hall, Inc.
Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458
www.prenhall.com

Burning Books
1320 Escalante Street
Santa Fe, NM 87505