Robert Hughes (American composer)

Robert Grove Hughes (1933–2022) was an American composer, conductor, bassoonist and music scholar based in the San Francisco Bay Area. He was known for his wide-ranging artistic interests—extending to poetry, performance art and social commentary—and advocacy of contemporary, often experimental music. San Francisco Chronicle critic Joshua Kosman described Hughes as a visionary and “musical Zelig” who “played a key role in a vast range of ambitious and influential musical projects.” In subsequent decades he co-founded and led the Arch Ensemble for Experimental Music with baritone vocalist Thomas Buckner and co-directed the performance group MA FISH CO with his wife, artist Margaret Fisher. In his work as a composer and conductor, critics noted Hughes’s fluency in an array of different styles, from overtly avant-garde to accessible, and his ambitious, adventurous programs. He died in Emeryville, California at age 88 on August 11, 2022. Education and career summary Hughes was born in Amherst, New York, near Buffalo, in 1933. While continuing to compose, perform and conduct for various west coast orchestras, Hughes co-founded the Arch Ensemble with baritone vocalist Thomas Buckner in 1