Rob Haskins is Assistant Professor of Music at the University of New Hampshire. He holds a D.M.A. in harpsichord performance and literature and a Ph.D. in Musicology at the Eastman School of Music; his dissertation, on John Cage's Number Pieces, was advised by Jürgen Thym and Robert D. Morris. He has read papers on Cage, Philip Glass, and Richard Strauss for local and national meetings of the American Musicological Society and The Society for American Music, among others, and he has published in the Frankfurter Zeitschrift für Musikwissenschaft, Perspectives of New Music, The Garland Encyclopedia of World Music, and The Musical Quarterly. Other research interests include opera, music for film, and cultural studies.
During his time at Eastman, Rob has performed music by Baroque and twentieth-century composers on a variety of keyboard instruments. Recent performances have included Bach harpsichord concertos with the Publick Musick in the spring of 2001 and a realization of traditional African mbira music for two harpsichords and shaker (with Eastman Musicology faculty member Martin Scherzinger) in November 2001. He produced a fully-staged performance of John Cage's Song Books in March 2001 and, in December of that year, presented an all-night performance of I-VI subsequently authorized by the John Cage Trust, who holds copyright to all performed versions of these materials. He continues to perform as a speaker, harpsichordist, and pianist; his recording (with Laurel Karlik Sheehan) of John Cage's Two2 will be released by Mode Records in fall 2007.
Rob served as a member of the Administrative Board for Eastman's student-run new music organization, Ossia, and has taught in Eastman's Department of Musicology and at Nazareth College. He continues to serve as a board member for the new music ensemble Alarm Will Sound. As a journalist, he works for the American Record Guide and freelanced for Rochester's Democrat and Chronicle and The Baltimore Sun.
Between 1985 and 1993, he was active as a composer/performer and appeared principally as a member of the synthesizer ensemble Industrial Arts (which he co-founded with composers Scott Pender and Thom Robinson). His works often incorporate theater, and were premiered at Baltimore's Theatre Project, Loyola College, Goucher College, and other venues. His music is licensed by BMI.
Rob has received funding from the Music Library Association (Dena Epstein Award for Archival and Library Research in American Music), Eastman's Elsa T. Johnson Dissertation Fellowship and Professional Development Fund, the Raymond N. Ball Dissertation Year Fellowship from the University of Rochester, Meet the Composer, the Maryland State Arts Council, and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation for the Humanistic Studies.