Robert Muczynski

Who was Robert Muczynski?

Robert Muczynski was an American composer. He was born in Chicago. Muczynski studied composition with Alexander Tcherepnin at DePaul University in the late 1940s. At age 29 he made his Carnegie Hall debut, performing a program of his own compositions for piano.

Muczynski studied piano with Walter Knupfer and composition with Alexander Tcherepnin at DePaul University in Chicago, where he received the Bachelor of Music degree and the Master of Music degree. Both degrees were in Piano Performance. Muczynski later taught at DePaul University, Loras College, and Roosevelt University, before settling in Tucson in the 1960s where he joined the faculty of the University of Arizona as composer-in-residence and chairman of the composition department; he held both a positions until his retirement in 1988.

Among the more than fifty published compositions in his catalog, his Sonata for Flute and Piano, Op. 14, his Sonata for Alto Saxophone and Piano, and Time Pieces for clarinet and piano have entered the repertoire and remain frequently performed in recitals, as has much of his solo piano music.