Composer's Details
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BiographyAmerican composer and pianist best known for his multiple collaborations with producer Ismail Merchant and director James Ivory, and who has subsequently - and somewhat unfairly - typecast as a "costume drama" composer. Began his career in musical education, working at the Mannes College of Music in New York, and at Rivers Music School in Weston, Massachusetts. While at Mannes, Robbins composed the music for the documentary short, "Sweet Sounds" (1976), about gifted five year-old music students at his school, which led directly to his association with Merchant-Ivory (they produced the documentary). Over the next 30 years, Robbins has scored virtually every one of their subsequent films, resulting in seventeen movies, and two Oscar nominations. In recent years, Robbins has begun to branch out into other genres of film in an attempt to resist pigeonholing, and even directed his own documentary short film, "Street Musicians of Bombay", in 1994. |