Robert Worby
Encyclopedia
Robert Worby is a composer, sound artist, writer and broadcaster based in London.
He is currently a presenter on BBC Radio 3
's Hear and Now
Towards the end of the 70s 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.
In the 1980s Robert 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.
In 1994 he began assisting the composer Michael Nyman
working on several films, concert music and the opera ‘Facing Goya’.
In the mid 90s Robert began broadcasting on Radio 3 presenting a five part series entitled ‘Cacophony Now!’ that explored how dissonance and noise, interface with contemporary music. Since that time he has become a regular presenter of ‘Hear and Now’, the BBC’s main contemporary music programme, and 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
, Robert founded the Cut & Splice festival of electronic music and sound art in 2002.
He is currently a presenter on BBC Radio 3
BBC Radio 3
BBC Radio 3 is a national radio station operated by the BBC within the United Kingdom. Its output centres on classical music and opera, but jazz, world music, drama, culture and the arts also feature. The station is the world’s most significant commissioner of new music, and its New Generation...
's Hear and Now
Towards the end of the 70s 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.
In the 1980s Robert 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.
In 1994 he began assisting the composer Michael Nyman
Michael Nyman
Michael Laurence Nyman, CBE is an English composer of minimalist music, pianist, librettist and musicologist, known for the many film scores he wrote during his lengthy collaboration with the filmmaker Peter Greenaway, and his multi-platinum soundtrack album to Jane Campion's The Piano...
working on several films, concert music and the opera ‘Facing Goya’.
In the mid 90s Robert began broadcasting on Radio 3 presenting a five part series entitled ‘Cacophony Now!’ that explored how dissonance and noise, interface with contemporary music. Since that time he has become a regular presenter of ‘Hear and Now’, the BBC’s main contemporary music programme, and has made several features on subjects including the work of Daphne Oram
Daphne Oram
Daphne Oram was a British composer and electronic musician. She was the creator of the "Oramics" technique for creating electronic sounds....
, the founder of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop
BBC Radiophonic Workshop
The BBC Radiophonic Workshop, one of the sound effects units of the BBC, was created in 1958 to produce effects and new music for radio, and was closed in March 1998, although much of its traditional work had already been outsourced by 1995. It was based in the BBC's Maida Vale Studios in Delaware...
, and the music of Luigi Russolo
Luigi Russolo
Luigi Russolo was an Italian Futurist painter and composer, and the author of the manifesto The Art of Noises . He is often regarded as one of the first noise music experimental composers with his performances of "noise concerts" in 1913-14 and then again after World War I, notably in Paris in 1921...
. Along with colleagues from the BBC and Sonic Arts Network
Sonic Arts Network
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...
, Robert founded the Cut & Splice festival of electronic music and sound art in 2002.