Robert Lombardo is the son of Sicilian immigrants. He received  his BM & MM in composition from the Hartt School of Music and was awarded the PhD  from the State University of Iowa. His principal composition teacher was Arnold Franchetti. Lombardo is a prolific composer who has written more than 200 works for solo instruments, chamber ensembles, orchestra, as well as four chamber operas and a number of song cycles. His wife Kathleen has written texts for several of his compositions. Among them: Johnny Sequel (a companion opera to Gianni Schicchi), Against Forgetting, a cantata dedicated to the Holocaust children and Aria Variata –a solo cantata for mezzo soprano and string orchestra recorded by the Czech National Symphony Orchestra, directed by Paul Freeman. The work has been issued on an Albany Records CD. Six works of his featuring the mandolin and performed by the mandolinist, Dimitris Marinos, including a concerto conducted by Cliff Colnot, is also on the Albany label.  Bernard Jacobson in Fanfare Magazine writes: “…Fastidious in its emotional precision and intensity, and often arresting for the sensuous beauty it achieves, Lombardo’s style is an intriguing amalgam of fairly comprehensive chromaticism with strong tonal influences from his Sicilian ancestry.” He has recently completed Last Letters Home  for mezzo soprano, piano and cello.  He also has two other versions of this work, for mezzo soprano, string orchestra & percussion  and mezzo soprano and string quartet. Other recent works include: Concertino for piano and chamber ensemble, Snapshots & Reflections for string quartet, Largo Doloroso for string orchestra, Fantasy Variations #7&8 for solo flute and solo viola respectively, Largo for string trio and Piccolo Concertino for mandolin & mandolin orchestra.
Web: http://robertlombardo.net/Site/Brief_Bio.html (2009)