Robert Coburn is a composer and sound artist. His early sonic experience, listening to thousands of crickets cycling minimalist calls in the night with occasional interruptions by coyotes, served to focus his awareness on the powerful ambience of the natural world. His compositional activities have been shaped by a strong interest in works created and concepts espoused by a group of artists including Fred Sandback, Callum Innes, Agnus Martin, Anne Truitt, James Turrell, Robert Irwin, Lee Ufan, and Tadao Ando. Their commitment to the power of perceptual experience, simple materials, and emptiness has had a significant impact on his recent compositions.
Robert Coburn's creative work includes concert music, both acoustic and electroacoustic; live, interactive analog and computer music; music for film; temporary sound environment installations; and permanent soundworks as public art. His music has been performed throughout North America and Europe, and is often heard in Japan. His permanent soundwork, Bell Circles II, is installed as public art throughout the landscape of the Oregon Convention Center in Portland, Oregon. He recently completed the soundtrack for Kevin Pontuti's film, The Yellow Wallpaper. He has presented at many international conferences including The Tuning of the World Conference (Banff Center for the Arts, Canada), The Pacific Centuries Conference (Melbourne), The Conference of the Japanese Society for Sonic Arts (Tokyo), and The Cognition and Behavior Symposium, European Society for the Cognitive Sciences of Music (Rome). During 2011-12 he was affiliated with the Tokyo University of the Arts as a Fulbright Scholar to Japan. He is Professor Emeritus of the Conservatory of Music, University of the Pacific.