Robert Ashley (born March 28, 1930) is a contemporary composer, best known for his operas and other theatrical works. His operas are far from traditional as they usually incorporate electronics and are written and produced for television. He explains that English is a language where the consonants count, not the vowels, unlike many European languages, and so the text in operas written in English should be delivered much faster.

Ashley is the founder of the ONCE group and festival, as well as a past member of the Sonic Arts Union along with David Behrman, Alvin Lucier, and Gordon Mumma. In 1969 he became director of the San Francisco Tape Music Center.

His operas include:

In Sara Mencken, Christ and Beethoveen there were men and women (text from the book of the same name by John Barton Wolgamot)
Perfect Lives
eL/Aficionado
Atalanta (Acts of God)
Improvement
Dust
Celestial excursions