Rob Keeley studied at the Royal College of Music (RCM) with Oliver Knussen and at Magdalen College Oxford. In 1988 he studied with Franco Donatoni at the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome, and at the Tanglewood Music Centre, where he worked with Oliver Knussen and Hans Werner Henze, and received strong encouragement from Leonard Bernstein.

Active as a freelance pianist, Keeley has given first performances of many works written for him, including those of Harrison Birtwistle, Michael Finnissy, Gary Carpenter and Richard Emsley. Between 1993 and 2018 Keeley was a lecturer in composition at King’s College London. His music is published mainly by Composers Edition, as well as Samek Music, Chester Music and Novello, and Resonata Music (brass) and Tetractys. Albums of his works have appeared on the NMC Recordings, Lorelt, Samek Music and Divine Art labels, and an album of his orchestral music is in preparation with Toccata Classics.