Robert Boston
Robert Boston played his first recital at age 7 and has been performing classical, jazz, and contemporary music ever since. His current projects include a trio featuring his own jazz compositions and appearances with the Masa Hatsuda Group. He is also a founding member of electro-acoustic ensemble Civic, which had its debut in New York in 2002 and appeared at the First Annual BAP! interdisciplinary arts festival hosted by the Bushwick Art Project in Brooklyn in 2005. He co-wrote the score for an experimental documentary titled Die-in at Rockefeller Center, which was selected as part of the "Political Projects" exhibit curated by Harvestworks in 2004. His music has also been performed by Orchestra X (Houston) and his ensemble Cyberglass (piano, violin, contrabass, winds, percussion, and DJ). After spending his formative years learning classics by composers such as Chopin and Beethoven, Robert was drawn to the music of Aram Khachaturian and Alberto Ginastera and began performing it alongside more traditional works while in his teens. He has evolved his repertoire to include recent masters such as Messiaen, Stockhausen, Cage and Ligeti. While rigorously studying twentieth century and new music, he continues to find inspiration in jazz and free improvisation. The dynamic dialogue among these traditions finds expression in his own creative work. Boston's early career as a performer included master classes with Alan Chow, John Owings, Manahem Pressler, and Lev Naumov; the winners' circle at many national and international piano competitions; a lecture recital at the Young Artists Conservatory in Plano, Texas on the Études, op. 10 of Chopin; and a performance of Prokofieff's Second Concerto with the Dallas Symphony. He trained at the Hochschule für Musik in Hanover, Germany under Arie Vardi and at Sam Houston State University in Texas where he received his masters. There he studied piano with John Paul and composition with Newton Strandberg and Fisher Tull. He has taught theory, improvisation and piano as an Affiliate Artist at the University of Houston's Moores School of Music. He has also participated in collective composition experiments and organized evenings of visual and performance art in New York, Houston and Berlin. He is also currently an accompanist with the Martha Graham Center and Mark Morris Dance Group.
