About Me

Rob Sbar - Film/TV Composer and Guitarist


A "compositional genius...a guitarist of frightening ability...one of the world's truly creative musical innovators." -Mike Sandomirsky


Rob Sbar is an accomplished , award-winning composer and guitarist who combines the conventional with the experimental, the classic with the ultra-modern, uniquely blending contemporary classical, modern, traditional and avant-garde forms of jazz, fusion and rock along with chromatic and post-tonal styles. His style, fusing of rock, jazz and contemporary classical along with traditional large-scale orchestral film scoring, Rob has been described as " Frank Zappa meets John Williams".



Rob resides in New York City. He began playing professionally at age 16, doing session work, teaching and performing as part of the Alternative and Indie Rock scene. From this early age, he established himself among the top composers/ arrangers and guitarists of the local scene. Already a well-known artist, Rob attended the National Guitar Summer Workshop, New Milford, Connecticut, to diversify his skills. There, Rob attended master classes with guitar icons Vinnie Moore, Stanley Jordan and Mick Goodrick.



Rob started college at Temple University’s Tyler School of Art, and completed a Bachelor of Music degree summa cum laude, studying jazz guitar and composition/arranging, as well as completing the Honors program at Temple University's Esther Boyer College of Music. His studies included jazz guitar with Tom Giacobetti and Ed Flanagan; jazz composition/arranging with Don Glanden, Ben Schacter and Larry McKenna; classical composition with Matthew Greenbaum, Ph.D., Maurice Wright, D.M.A., Richard Brodhead, Ph.D., and Mark Rimple, D.M.A. Rob also conducted/arranged the School's Jazz Vocal Ensemble. He was awarded membership in the Golden Key Honor Society. Rob also studied guitar privately with Shrapnel/Tone Center recording artist Greg Howe, Lasers Edge recording artist Scott McGill and Jazz icons Pat Martino (Blue Note) and Jimmy Bruno (Mel Bay).


Rob earned a Masters of Arts degree in music composition at Rutgers University, studying with world renowned, Pulitzer Prize winning composer Charles Wuorinen. In his first year, he was awarded a Teaching Assistantship in Music Composition and Theory.

Rob pursued additional studies and master classes in composition with with celebrated composers Aaron Jay Kernis, Harvey Sollberger, Jukka Tiensuu, David Felder, Mario Davidovsky, Charles Fussell, Austin Clarkson and George Russell, film score orchestration with Scott Smalley (Film Music Institute) and film scoring with Rick Baitz (The Manhattan Producer's Alliance) as well as performance studies with Wynton Marsalis, Max Roach, Billy Taylor, Bill Shindling, Magmus Andersson, Stu Hamm, Terry Bozzio, Frank Gambale, Larry Mitchell, Andy Timmons, Adrian Legg and Blues Saraceno.


Rob was the Music Director and conductor for the Mondfleck Orchestra, Music Director and Composer-In-Residence for the Trash Can Society Theater Company and composer for improv theater group, The Glass Metropolis Project.


In September 2002, Rob released his highly praised debut CD, Wagon Wheels and Atom Bombs, with his band, The Rob Sbar Noesis (Aggregate Recordings), distributed by Fossil Records and Musea Records. The CD presents a unified, cumulative sensory and arts experience, incorporating the mediums of sound with written word and visual art concepts. Wagon Wheels and Atom Bombs received wide critical acclaim, including placing on critic David Cisco's list of Top 10 CDs of 2002.



Rob has been interviewed and featured in many publications and websites worldwide, including Guitar Player, Guitar World, 20th Century Guitar, Guitar Chef (Italy), Guitar Mania (Canada) and many others. He was selected as a Top 5 Finalist in the 2006 North American Rock Guitar Competition, held in Buffalo, New York and presented by Guitar Player magazine and Gibson guitars. The Rob Sbar Noesis was inducted as a new member into the 2007 Independent Artist Registry.

Rob's music has been featured throughout film and television. Co-founder of Aggregate Recordings-Music For Film, Television, Games and Multimedia, Rob composed the score for the feature film, Triptosane, presented by Supernatural Productions and co-wrote and orchestrated music for the film, Coasters.

An accomplished teacher of composition, arranging, orchestration, guitar and music theory. Rob developed his own personal teaching concepts and methods for improving technique and chord/scale theory and counterpoint for various styles and genres of music. He has taught privately, in music schools and at the college level. He is currently a Teaching Affiliate at Long Island University's Brooklyn Campus, and is also known as a freelance, live, studio and session guitarist, composer, arranger and producer.


Rob Sbar is a proud endorsee of Seymour Duncan pickups , Morley pedals, Madison Amps, Curt Mangan strings and Neck Sock .


*ASCAP affiliated composer and publisher (Rob Sbar Music)

*International Alliance Of Composer's member

“Imagine Zappa having actually learned modern fretwork techniques from his one time kid stunt guitarist Stevie Vai" - MJ Brady

SELECTED CREDITS
• Triptosane, presented by Supernatural Productions, composed the score for this feature film.
• Coasters composed score music for the feature film.
• United Way advertising campaign, Because Of You, aired on radio 
and television.  Wrote, arranged and performed original music and lyrics.
• Doryn's Dish Live!, composed the theme music for this radio talk show.
• Sirens, the music for a modern dance piece collaboration with celebrated 
choreographer Julia Ritter.  Composed, conducted and performed a blend of 
jazz, classical and contemporary music for a large ensemble.
• A Mosaic of Cement and Barbed Wire, a modern composition for Renaissance 
lute, performed at the Sarah Lawrence Summer Guitar Institute.
• Like Giants Through a Keyhole, trio for flute cello and piano, was 
performed as part of the CROSS-CURRENTS IN JAZZ AND NEW MUSIC: The School and Schooling of Stefan Wolpe series presented by the Network for New Music in cooperation with the Stefan Wolpe Society.
• Aerial Surveying, a solo piano piece, performed at the June in Buffalo 
Festival for Emerging Composers held in Buffalo, New York, by renowned 
pianist Marilyn Nonken.  Rob Sbar was selected among an exclusive group of 
young composers worldwide to participate.
• Ideological Explosions Of The Absurd Hero for orchestra was performed in Milan, Italy.

AWARDS
• June in Buffalo Festival for Emerging Composers, selected among an exclusive group of young composers worldwide to participate.
• Wagon Wheels and Atom Bombs was also placed on critic David Cisco's list 
of Top 10 CDs of 2002.
• Top 5 Finalist in the 2006 North American Rock Guitar Competition, in Buffalo, New York, presented by Guitar Player magazine and Gibson guitars.
• The Rob Sbar Noesis was inducted as a new member into the 2007 Independent Artist Registry.
• Endorsee of Seymour Duncan pickups, Morley pedals, Madison Amps, Curt Mangan strings and Neck Socks.

DISCOGRAPHY

• The Rob Sbar Noesis - Wagon Wheels and Atom Bombs- Aggregate Recordings
• Shawn Lane Remembered Volume II - Lion Music
• Fret-Essential ..1 Guitar Compilation - Wretched Productions
• Virtuoso Music Compilation - Thai.net-Virtuoso
• Topping Haggerty - Depends On How You Look At It - Kihckercast Project
• Higher And Higher -A Tribute To The Moody Blues - Mellow Records
• A Tribute To Carlos Santana (upcoming) - Mellow Records
• The Rob Sbar Noesis - Ideological Explosions Of the Absurd Hero (upcoming)-Aggregate Recordings