Robert Fleisher


Robert Jay Fleisher is a composer, the author of Twenty Israeli Composers, and a contributor to Theresa Sauer’s Notations 21. He is Professor Emeritus at Northern Illinois University, where he long served as Coordinator of the Music Theory and Composition area.

Education

Fleisher received his baccalaureate degree in Music Theory and Composition at the University of Colorado. He earned his M.M. and D.M.A. Composition degrees at the University of Illinois, studying with Ben Johnston and Salvatore Martirano.

Reception

Fleisher’s solo and chamber music has been called “eloquent,” “lovely and emotional," “ingenious,” and praised for its “astoundingly attractive vertical sonorities.” A review of the CD Portraits featuring soprano Lynn Eustis, baritone Robert Best, and pianist Elvia Puccinelli, notes that his Five Songs from Carl Sandburg's "Prairie" for soprano and piano "are particularly apt in how they embody the spirit of the texts so convincingly, with an openness that never feels empty." Fleisher's electroacoustic works have been described as “fascinating,” “endearingly low-tech,” and possessing “a rich, tactile texture.”
Some of his earlier works employing untraditional music notation have been exhibited in the United States, including Sylvia Smith’s “Scribing Sound” exhibitions at the 1984 and 1986 New Music America festivals, as well as in France and the Netherlands in connection with Theresa Sauer’s book, Notations 21. Fleisher is represented in that collection by both a score sample and his invited essay, "Being of Sound Mind," which is highlighted in a New Music Connoisseur review.

Discography

  • Minims for Max ; Piano Crosscurrents,''
  • Dans le Piano ; WIIB
  • Parallel ''; ''
  • Producer, Works by Avni, Ben-Haim, Ben-Shabetai, Ehrlich, Fleischer, Maayani, Olivero, Shapira, Zehavi
  • Altro Alfresco, Five Pieces for Flute and Percussion, Loretto Alfresco ; ;
  • 32 Bars for string quartet; ' ÉxQuartet;
  • Dans le piano ; ', Series 1, Vol. 7;
  • Dumkyana; Trio Casals ; Silver Medal, http://www.globalmusicawards.com/
  • Gig Harbor, Six Little Piano Pieces ; '
  • Maniondala ; University of Illinois Percussion Ensemble, William Moersch, director;
  • Beginning; ''Ending;
  • Ma mère ;
  • Loretto Alfresco ; '
  • Five Songs from Carl Sandburg's "Prairie"; ''; SCI
  • Secrets ; '
  • Two Movements for Solo Cello ; '' ''