Raised in New York City's Greenwich Village by parents who were active in the arts, Robert was immersed in music, theater, literature, and the visual arts from an early age. He attended the High School of Art and Design, one of New York City's specialized schools for the arts. He went on to receive a Bachelor of Music, in composition and electronic music, from the Berklee College of Music in Boston, his Master of Music in Composition from the Shenandoah Conservatory, and his Doctor of Music in Composition from the Florida State University. Parallel careers in music and visual arts followed his early education. His experience includes working for a number of years as a guitarist and composer in New York City, during which time he produced and performed on many recordings and performances of jazz, blues, and popular music. He has also composed a sizeable body of art music, released a CD of original electronic compositions, and toured the United States and Europe. During the same period, he achieved professional success as in his parallel career as a visual artist. His positions include Vice President and Creative Director of America Online, and Senior Art Director for Time Magazine. Robert's music has been performed and recorded in the United States, Europe, and Japan. A number of years ago, Sarah Jewler and I worked together at Rolling Stone magazine in New York and became great friends. Sarah was not only a respected managing editor at a number of top publications but was also a fine percussionist. We played music together in several New York bands, giging at various clubs in Greenwich Village. As life tends to do, events gradually drew us each our separate ways, years passed and we lost touch. In the winter of 2005, I heard through a friend that Sarah had died of a rare blood disease. I was profoundly moved by the loss of my friend, especially since we had not spoken in so many years. I will never be able to tell Sarah how much her friendship and her music meant to me. This music is my way of saying, Goodbye Sarah, and thank you. The world is a lesser place without you. I've never considered myself to be particularly superstitious, but when I set down to write these notes for "Menage", I realized that a more appropriate title might have been "Threes". The number three dominates the piece; three instruments, three movements, each with three sections with a duration of approximately three minutes each. When I began composing the piece my intention was to create an abstract nonprogramatic framework in which to explore combinations of timbre and texture these instruments offer. However, "the power of three" seems to have been at work on this music, either subconsciously by me or by some unseen musical force. The greatest challenge in creating a musical setting for Homer's Odyssey was editing the epic into a story of manageable proportions. I began with a concept for music, dance, and theater ala' traditional Greek tragedy, to be set to modern movement, dress and sound. At first sketch, the piece was well over three hours long. Months of editing led to this final version which I hope captures the essence of Homers poem. The work is in three acts, each focusing on a different aspect of Odysseus' story. The first act centers upon his home, his wife, and all of the suitors that pursue her in his absence, plus the intervention of the Goddess Athena. The second act recounts three episodes from his long journey. Fear, courage, lust, love, life and death area all touched upon. In the final act, Odysseus returns home, exacts his revenge and renews his love with his wife. At first I approached the music with the intention of restricting myself to ancient Greek modes and instruments. After several months of exploratory composition work within these limitations, I decided to "let go" and use whatever musical influences that I felt would help illustrate the story. The result is a mix of contemporary and traditional mix, but is, I hope, primarily music to dance to.