Robert Worby

Last updated

Robert Worby is a London-based composer, sound artist, writer and broadcaster.

In the late 1970s, he played guitar and tapes in a post-punk band called The Distributors. The band released several singles, recorded two Radio 1 sessions for John Peel and played regularly with This Heat, The Raincoats and other bands of that era.

John Peel English disc jockey, radio presenter, record producer and journalist

John Robert Parker Ravenscroft,, known professionally as John Peel, was an English disc jockey, radio presenter, record producer and journalist. He was the longest serving of the original BBC Radio 1 DJs, broadcasting regularly from 1967 until his death in 2004.

In the 1980s, Worby received awards from the Arts Council of Great Britain to work as a composer and undertake a number of residencies. At this time he also worked with The Mekons. In 1989, he was invited to work with John Cage, at the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival.

The Mekons band

The Mekons are a British-American rock band. Formed in the late 1970s as an art collective, they are one of the longest-running and most prolific of the first-wave British punk rock bands. Through the years, the band's musical style has evolved, incorporating aspects of country music, folk music, alternative rock and occasional experiments with dub. They are known for their raucous live shows. The Mekons are often described as a post-punk or alt country band.

John Cage American avant-garde composer

John Milton Cage Jr. was an American composer, music theorist, artist, and philosopher. A pioneer of indeterminacy in music, electroacoustic music, and non-standard use of musical instruments, Cage was one of the leading figures of the post-war avant-garde. Critics have lauded him as one of the most influential composers of the 20th century. He was also instrumental in the development of modern dance, mostly through his association with choreographer Merce Cunningham, who was also Cage's romantic partner for most of their lives.

The Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival is a new music festival held annually in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England. Since its foundation in 1978, it has featured major international figures of experimental and avant garde music, including guest composers such as Karlheinz Stockhausen, Louis Andriessen, Terry Riley, Brian Eno, John Cage, Steve Reich, Jonathan Harvey, Helmut Lachenmann and Sir Harrison Birtwistle. Its programme also includes improvisation, installation, sound sculptures, happenings, new technology and free jazz.

In 1994, he began assisting the composer Michael Nyman working on several films, concert music and the opera Facing Goya.

Michael Nyman English composer of minimalist music, pianist, librettist and musicologist

Michael Laurence Nyman, CBE is an English composer of minimalist music, pianist, librettist and musicologist, known for numerous film scores, and his multi-platinum soundtrack album to Jane Campion's The Piano. He has written a number of operas, including The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat; Letters, Riddles and Writs; Noises, Sounds & Sweet Airs; Facing Goya; Man and Boy: Dada; Love Counts; and Sparkie: Cage and Beyond. He has written six concerti, five string quartets, and many other chamber works, many for his Michael Nyman Band. He is also a performing pianist. Nyman prefers to write opera rather than other forms of music.

In the mid 1990s, Worby began broadcasting on Radio 3 presenting a five-part series entitled Cacophony Now! that explored how dissonance and noise, interface with contemporary music. Most recently, he has been a regular presenter of Hear and Now, the BBC's main contemporary music programme. In addition, Worby has made several features on subjects including the work of Daphne Oram, the founder of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, and the music of Luigi Russolo. Along with colleagues from the BBC and Sonic Arts Network, Worby founded the Cut & Splice festival of electronic music and sound art in 2002.

BBC Radio 3 British national radio station

BBC Radio 3 is a British radio station operated by the BBC. Its output centres on classical music and opera, but jazz, world music, drama, culture and the arts also feature. The station describes itself as 'the world's most significant commissioner of new music', and through its New Generation Artists scheme promotes young musicians of all nationalities. The station broadcasts the BBC Proms concerts, live and in full, each summer in addition to performances by the BBC Orchestras and Singers. There are regular productions of both classic plays and newly commissioned drama.

Daphne Oram British composer and electronic musician

Daphne Oram was a British composer and electronic musician. She was one of the first British composers to produce electronic sound, and was a pioneer of musique concrète in the UK. As a co-founder of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, she became a central figure in the evolution of electronic music.

BBC Radiophonic Workshop

The BBC Radiophonic Workshop was one of the sound effects units of the BBC, created in 1958 to produce incidental sounds and new music for radio and, later, television. The unit is known for its experimental and pioneering work in electronic music and music technology, as well as its popular scores for programs such as Doctor Who and Quatermass and the Pit during the 1950s and 1960s.

Related Research Articles

Jim McNeely American musician

Jim McNeely is a Grammy award-winning jazz pianist, composer, and arranger.

David Lowe (television and radio composer) British composer

David Lowe is an English composer and music producer. His work comprises primarily of music for television, radio, commercials and idents. Lowe is probably best known for his extensive work on theme tunes for bulletins and programmes for BBC News.

Robert Saxton is a British composer.

Nitin Sawhney British composer

Nitin Sawhney is a British Indian musician, producer and composer. A recipient of the Ivor Novello Lifetime Achievement award in 2017, his work combines Asian and other worldwide influences with elements of jazz and electronica and often explores themes such as multiculturalism, politics, and spirituality. Sawhney is also active in the promotion of arts and cultural matters, and is a patron of numerous film festivals, venues, and educational institutions.

Sonic Arts Network was a UK-based organisation, established in 1979, that aimed to enable both audiences and practitioners to engage with the art of sound through a programme of festivals, events, commissions and education projects. Its honorary patron was Karlheinz Stockhausen.

Alarm Will Sound American chamber orchestra

Alarm Will Sound is a 20-member chamber orchestra that focuses on recordings and performances of contemporary classical music. Its performances have been described as "equal parts exuberance, nonchalance, and virtuosity" by the Financial Times and as "a triumph of ensemble playing" by the San Francisco Chronicle. The New York Times said that Alarm Will Sound is "one of the most vital and original ensembles on the American music scene."

Neil Brand British actor, composer and playwright

Neil Brand is an English dramatist, composer and author. In addition to being regular silent film accompanist at London's National Film Theatre, Brand has composed new scores for two recently restored films from the 1920s, namely The Wrecker and Anthony Asquith's Underground.

Jonathan Pitkin is a contemporary classical composer.

David Sawer, is a British composer of opera and choral, orchestral and chamber music.

Kit Downes is a BBC Jazz Award winning, Mercury Music Award nominated, solo recording artist for ECM Records.

Langham Research Centre

Langham Research Centre is a group devoted to authentic performances of classic electronic music, and the creation of new music from their instrumentarium of vintage analogue devices. Founded in August 2003, they comprise the composers / producers Felix Carey, Iain Chambers, Philip Tagney, and Robert Worby. Their new music follows in the traditions of the Radiophonic Workshop, using reel-to-reel tape machines, sine wave oscillators and other vintage machinery abandoned by the BBC.

Darbuka Siva Indian composer and musician

Darbuka Siva is an Indian musician, music producer and an actor based in Chennai, India. Starting out as a drummer/percussionist, he went on to spearhead the critically acclaimed Indian music projects like Yodhakaa and La Pongal.

Maria Lamburn is an award-winning composer and multi-instrumentalist whose philosophy of 'Living Art' endures through her music and poetry and larger scale instrumental scores.

Rhodri Davies is a harp player working within the field of free improvisation. He was one of the most prominent members of the London reductionist school of improvised music that was active in the late 1990s and early 2000s and which has been described as being "extremely influential over the last decade".

While the horn is primarily used in classical music pieces, in the mid-20th century the French horn broke into the jazz world. While the instrument remains relatively rare, the role of the horn in jazz has developed from its beginnings in the 1940s through to the 2010s. Note that the expression "horns" in jazz is often used colloquially to refer to all brass instruments used in jazz. This article focuses on the use of the French horn.

<i>Radio Rewrite</i>

Radio Rewrite is a 2012 work for instrumental ensemble by American composer Steve Reich, inspired by two songs by British rock band Radiohead: "Jigsaw Falling into Place" and "Everything in Its Right Place". The piece represents the first time that Reich has reworked material from western pop/rock music. It has five movements, alternating fast and slow, and is scored for clarinet, flute, two violins, viola, cello, two vibraphones, two pianos and electric bass. The work premiered in London, UK in 2013, performed by the London Sinfonietta, to a generally positive reception. Much attention focused on the Radiohead material, with some reviewers praising how completely it is integrated, while others question whether Radiohead's style is suited to Reich's work. Alarm Will Sound made the first recording of the piece for an album of the same name released on Nonesuch Records in 2014.

Leon Milo American composer, percussionist and sound artist

Leon Milo is an American composer, percussionist and sound artist.

Music composition and composers in Pristina refers to music composition and composers who have left their mark in Pristina. The importance of Kosovan Folklore on the different genres, their development and their popularity. As referring to genres as a categorization would not cover all compositions and composers in a fair way, a highlight of every composers work and different genres is provided because of the different genres a composers work has included throughout the years.

Laurie Scott Baker

Laurie Scott Baker is a British composer and musician of Experimental and Electronic music. He was a pioneer of live electronics and graphic scores from the 1960s.