Hughes, Robert
Robert Hughes was born and raised in Buffalo. His debut as both a conductor and composer occurred in 1949 at the age of fifteen when he conducted his own composition “Dreams of Heaven and Hell” with the Buffalo Civic Orchestra. He has continued his activities as conductor and composer throughout his long career. An accomplished bassoonist, at an early age he played with orchestras in Buffalo and Canada. He graduated from the University of Buffalo and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa in 1956, staying on at the University for two years as a Graduate Teaching Fellow while also studying with Aaron Copland and Carlos Chavez, as well as a series of principal bassoonists with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra.
“After two years post graduate study in Italy with Luigi Dallapiccola and at the Salzburg Mozarteum Hughes relocated to California where he studied with Lou Harrison, subsequently becoming a prominent figure in the San Francisco musical scene as a bassoonist, conductor, composer and, of recent, the author of two published books. He has composed over a hundred musical works for a wide variety of media, including eighteen movie scores and a large body of electronic music. As a conductor he has conducted orchestras in the United States and Europe, concentrating on contemporary music, giving many premieres, and issuing twenty-one recordings on CRI, New World, Music Masters, Phoenix, Fantasy, Cambridge, Desto, 1750 Arch and Bomar labels. He has taught at The San Francisco Conservatory of Music, Mills College, California State Universities at Long Beach and Hayward, Teatro L’Avogaria in Venice (Italy) and has received Rockefeller, Fulbright, National Endowment of the Arts grants, as well as residencies at The American Academy in Rome, The Djerassi Foundation and The Lake Placid Center for the Arts
