Celebrated for his “waves of colorful sounds” (New York Times) and “smart, appealing works” (The New Yorker), Robert Honstein (b. 1980) is a New York based composer of orchestral, chamber, and vocal music.

Ensembles and performers of Robert’s music include the Albany Symphony, Dayton Philharmonic, Orchestre Symphonique du Mulhouse, Eighth Blackbird, Ensemble Dal Niente, Mivos Quartet, Del Sol Quartet, Argus Quartet, TIGUE, New Morse Code, Colin Currie, Theo Bleckmann, Doug Perkins, Michael Burritt, Karl Larson, Ashley Bathgate, among others. Interdisciplinary collaborators include photographer Chris McCaw, projection designer Hannash Wasileski, graphic designer Laura Grey, director Daniel Fish and his music has also been choreographed by numerous dance companies including the Cincinnati Ballet. His music has been released by New Focus Records, Soundspells Productions, Cedille Records, and New Amsterdam Records. NPR included his piece ‘Pulse’ from Eighth Blackbird’s ‘Hand Eye’ as one of their top 100 songs of 2016.

Robert is a founding member of the New York-based composer collective Sleeping Giant. With a commitment to building community around the music of our time, Robert has co-founded Fast Forward Austin and Times Two in Boston. As an educator Robert has participated in outreach projects around the country, while also serving as Program Manager and Composition Faculty at NYU, Steinhardt.

“Soul House is that rare instance where composer and performer are wonderfully matched, the former providing the latter with material that brings out its best qualities, and the latter an exceptional conduit for the former's creative expression. The result is a magnificent, intensely poignant translation of inner experience into sound.”

Textura | Hub New Music: Soul House, New Amsterdam Records

“Mr. Honstein’s ‘Conduit’ evokes a man-machine synthesis, with waves of colorful sounds and breathless eruptions.”

Anthony Tommasini, The New York Times | Review: Eighth Blackbird Ensemble Plays Sleeping Giant’s Suite

“Been a stressful year? This music will help. With a pulse about the same as your heartbeat, Robert Honstein’s mesmerizing piece has the power to soothe. One by one, the violin, piano and clarinet intertwine. And before you know it, a flute takes flight, soaring above the composer’s meditative, transparent weave of sounds.”

Tom Huizenga, NPR | Top 100 Songs of 2016

“These two gorgeous works by Robert Honstein present a kind of minimalist composition that refuses to be limited by austerity…The six exquisite movements [of An Economy of Means] alternate between deeply contemplative, glacially slow passages with billowing, ghostly overtones, meticulously produced by both precise mallet work and luxuriant bowing, while other movements cleave to a more kinetic sort of minimalism, with technically complex cycling patterns.”

Peter Margasak, Bandcamp | The Best Contemporary Classical Albums of 2018