Robert Ashley: An Interview

Contemporary American composer and performance artist Robert Ashley (1930-2014) was a pioneer in the development of large-scale, collaborative performance works and new uses of language in operas and recordings. His landmark project, Perfect Lives, was opera produced for television in seven half-hour episodes.

In this interview with Peter Gena, the composer shares his interest in the exploration of visual media to express musical ideas. "There is a language and with that language you could be vernacular... or you could try to say something about some other realm of your life," he notes.

A historical interview originally recorded in 1988.