Bob Gilmore

Bob Gilmore is a musicologist, educator and keyboard player, born in Carrickfergus, Northern Ireland in 1961. He studied at York University, England, Queen's University, Belfast (PhD. 1992), and, on a Fulbright Scholarship, at the University of California, San Diego. He is best known for his books on American music - Harry Partch: a biography (Yale University Press, 1998) and Ben Johnston: Maximum Clarity and other writings on music (University of Illinois Press, 2006), both of which were recipients of the Deems Taylor Award from ASCAP. He has also written extensively on the American experimental tradition, microtonal music and spectral music, including the work of such figures as James Tenney, Horatiu Radulescu, Claude Vivier, and Frank Denyer. He is one of the leading authorities on the work of the American composer, instrument builder and theorist Harry Partch. He has written on the work of younger Irish composers including Deirdre Gribbin, Donnacha Dennehy, Ailís Ni Ríain, Jennifer Walshe and Michael Alcorn in the Journal of Music in Ireland. He has taught at Queens University, Belfast, Dartington College of Arts, and presently is Subject leader of Music at Brunel University in London. He is the founder, director and keyboard player of Trio Scordatura, an Amsterdam-based ensemble dedicated to the performance of microtonal music.