Faculty

Gerald Robbins

College Faculty:
Chamber Music: Piano

Pianist Gerald Robbins has distinguished himself internationally as a soloist, having performed throughout the world in virtually every major music center, including New York, London, Paris, Amsterdam, Bonn, Munich, Athens, Frankfurt, Belgrade, Moscow, St. Petersburg, Tel-Aviv, Jerusalem, and Tokyo. He has appeared with the London Philharmonic, Royal Philharmonic, BBC Symphony, London Mozart Players, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Moscow Philharmonic, and New York Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra, among many others, under such conductors as Sir Neville Marriner, Edouard van Remoortel, Harry Blech, Okko Kamu, Jorge Mester, Lawrence Foster, Ezra Rachlin, Kenneth Klein, Louis Frémaux, and Zubin Mehta.

A champion of neglected Romantic repertoire, Gerald Robbins has received critical acclaim for his solo recordings for the London-Decca, Orion, and Genesis labels, as well as his world premiere recordings of concerti by Litolff and Reinecke, performed with the Monte Carlo Opera Orchestra conducted by Edouard van Remoortel, and re-released on CD for Genesis Records. Praising his “first-class, bravura performance” and “keyboard voice of true eloquence,” critics wrote that “Gerald Robbins’ technical prowess is phenomenal.”

Mr. Robbins recorded the Leonard Bernstein and John Corigliano Sonatas for Violin and Piano with Glenn Dicterow and the Mendelssohn Complete Works for Cello and Piano with cellist James Kreger. Other recordings include a solo performance of Dvořák’s “Poetic Tone Pictures” and Goetz’s Complete Chamber Music for Piano and Strings; a collaboration with conductor Kenneth Klein and the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra of the Schumann Piano Concerto; a re-release on CD of piano works by Sjögren and Kjerulf; and an acclaimed CD of the Strauss and Turina Piano Quartets performed by the Lyric Piano Quartet.

Mr. Robbins has also distinguished himself as a chamber musician. Whilst living in London, he was in close collaboration with Nathan Milstein, Mayumi Fujikawa, Richard Markson, Larry Adler, and Kyung-Wha Chung. He has worked closely with New York Philharmonic concertmaster Glenn Dicterow, co-founding the Lyric Piano Quartet, with which he regularly records and tours. He has also appeared as a frequent guest artist with solo members of the New York Philharmonic at Avery Fisher Hall, Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, and Merkin Hall.

Also an accomplished conductor, Mr. Robbins co-founded with Kenneth Klein the Westside Symphony Orchestra of Los Angeles, presently called the Beverly Hills Symphony, and is a co-founder of the London Concertante, an ensemble that specializes in 18th and early 19th-century concerto repertoire.

The recipient of important prizes in major international competitions such as the Van Cliburn and Tchaikovsky International Competitions, he received his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from the University of Southern California, where he assisted in the string master classes of Jascha Heifetz, William Primrose, and Gregor Piatigorsky.

Mr. Robbins is a member of the chamber music faculty of Manhattan School of Music and Artist-in-Residence with the Lyric Piano Quartet at the Aaron Copland School of Music at Queens College, CUNY. He has developed a highly successful chamber music concert series at Queens College and is also affiliated with the Hoff-Barthelson School of Music in Westchester.

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