is Musical Director and Composer-in-Residence at The Mary Baker Eddy Library for the Betterment of Humanity. He studied composition and double bass at the New England Conservatory of Music graduate school, and then spent eight years as composer-in-residence at the W.E.B. DuBois Institute for African and African American Research at Harvard University. Composer of "The Time for Thinkers Has Come," an original piece created for the Library's opening event, Robinson is also the author of independent projects including gospel operas that deal with slavery. His Look What a Wonder tells the story of South Carolina slave revolutionary Denmark Vesey. compares enslavement in Bible times with slavery in the early history of the United States. Its New York permiere will be in April. Robinson works in Boston and lives on Martha's Vineyard. The Journal talked with him in his office, adjacent to the Library's Hall of Ideas.
Why do you wake up at 5 a.m. and pray for 70 minutes every morning?
It's praise—before I even brush my teeth or get out of bed. It's the epicenter of everything that I am and do. I choose 70 minutes because it has special significance to me. It's an anointed presence within you that sort of feels like God praising Himself through you. During this praise I get intuitions, which are often musical and creative ideas. There's a feeling of joy, a feeling of peace. It's intimate. Another benefit is the absence of worry. The important thing is that it's praise in the Spirit and not petition.
