Robert Charles Suderburg (28 January 1936 in Spencer, Iowa – 22 April 2013 in Williamstown, Massachusetts) was an American composer, conductor, and pianist.
The son of a jazz trombonist,[1] Suderburg studied composition with Paul Fetler at the University of Minnesota, where he received a BA in 1957.
From 1974 to 1984 he was chancellor of the North Carolina School of the Arts, and in 1985 joined the music faculty of Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts.
[citation needed] Suderburg's earlier compositions were serial, but in the late 1960s he abandoned twelve-tone technique and turned to a highly personal, lyrical, basically neoromantic style.
He tends to use moderate to slow underlying tempos, but with active and pliable surface rhythms, suggesting improvisation.