T. Carlis Roberts

T. Carlis Roberts (he/him) is a composer, performer, and scholar working at the nexus between theory and practice. His published works explore interracial and intercultural music making as a window onto U.S. racial dynamics, including Resounding Afro Asia: Interracial Music and the Politics of Collaboration (Oxford 2016) and Yellow Power, Yellow Soul: The Radical Art of Fred Ho (Illinois 2013). T’s current research explores intersections between spirituality, technology, and colonization in relation to Black roots traditions in the Americas. He is co-founder of the Spiritual Technologies Project, a research and performance cooperative that explores the metaphysical dimensions of African diasporic music. T’s creative work has straddled theater, music, film, television, dance, and performance art. As a composer, sound designer, and music director, he has worked around the country at theaters including Steppenwolf, Woolly Mammoth, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, La Jolla Playhouse, Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, and Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park. As a songwriter and performer, T appeared on the Grammy-nominated album The Love by Alphabet Rockers, wrote original music for the Starz/Lionsgate series Vida, and toured the country in A Queer Story of the Boy Band, a theatrical concert he created with QTPOC boy band The Singing Bois. T holds a PhD in Performance Studies from Northwestern University and was previously on the Music faculty at University of California, Berkeley. His work has been supported by the Ford Foundation, Nathan Cummings Foundation, California Arts Commission, Surdna Foundation, Mellon Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Humanities.