Robert Helps

Robert Helps ( born September 23, 1928 in Passaic, New Jersey; † 24 November 2001 in Tampa, Florida) was an American pianist and composer.

He was one of the most outstanding student of Abby Whiteside and perhaps the best known advocate of their rhythm theory. He studied composition with Roger Sessions, who had a great influence on his career and his music was frequently performed and recorded.

Helps taught piano at the New England Conservatory of Music, at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music at Princeton University, Stanford University, the University of California, Berkeley, the Manhattan School of Music and the University of South Florida.

Helps was awarded the National Endowment for the Arts, the Guggenheim Fellowship and the Ford Foundation. In 1976, he received an Academy Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. His music appeared among others in Naxos, CRI, Nevertheless, and Albany labels.

The archive is in the hands of the Special Collections of the University of South Florida. The University also sponsors a Robert Helps Festival and writes for composers annual Robert Helps Prize.