Sharon Robinson (cellist)
Encyclopedia
Sharon Hall Robinson is an American
cellist
. She has had a highly successful performing career, both as a concert solo artist and as a member of the Kalichstein
-Laredo
-Robinson Trio, and has recorded extensively. Robinson is widely regarded as one of the leading cellists of her generation.
, the daughter of Keith Robinson and Dorothe Fowler. Both parents were members of the Houston Symphony Orchestra
: her father was the principal bassist, and her mother was a violinist. Sharon and all four of her siblings—bassist
Hal
, violin
ists Erica and Kim, and cellist Keith, Jr.—became professional string players with notable careers.
Sharon Robinson graduated from the North Carolina School of the Arts
in 1968. She attended the University of Southern California
in Los Angeles
and the Peabody Institute
in Baltimore, Maryland, from which she graduated with a bachelor's degree
in 1972.
performance debut in 1974, collaborating with violin
ist/violist
Jaime Laredo
and pianist
Samuel Sanders on a chamber music
recital. Of her 1977 solo recital debut, which featured works of Beethoven
, Britten
, Crumb
, and Rachmaninoff
, the New York Times
music critic Allen Hughes said, "she revealed an artistic personality that vitalized almost everything she played. . . . The cello tone glowed. . . the result was lovely. . . an impressive debut."
Robinson has performed as a soloist with the symphony orchestras of Baltimore
, Boston
, Dallas
, Helsinki
, Houston
, London
, Los Angeles
, Minnesota
, Philadelphia
, Pittsburgh
, St. Louis
, and San Francisco
; the National Symphony in Washington, D.C.
, and the Tonhalle Orchestra
of Zürich
; and the English
, Scottish
, and Franz Liszt
Chamber Orchestras.
In 1977, Robinson and two colleagues, violinist Jaime Laredo
and pianist Joseph Kalichstein
, formed the Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio, a piano trio
. The group, which has performed and recorded worldwide (while maintaining its original personnel), is considered among the finest chamber ensembles in existence.
Robinson has participated in numerous music festival
s, including Aspen
, Autumn
(in Prague
), Edinburgh
, Granada, Madeira, Marlboro
, Mostly Mozart
(New York), South Bank (in London), and Spoleto
. She has appeared on television programs including Sunday Morning
and The Kennedy Center Honors
(CBS
), The Today Show and The Tonight Show
(NBC
), Great Conversations in Music (PBS
), and The Dick Cavett Show
. She has taught privately and led master class
es worldwide, and in 2005 was appointed to the faculty of the Jacobs School of Music
at Indiana University
.
Among the many composer
s who have accepted commissions to write works for Robinson are Richard Danielpour
, Daron Hagen
, Katherine Hoover, Leon Kirchner
, David Ott
, Arvo Pärt
, Ned Rorem
, Stanley Silverman, Andy Stein
, and Ellen Taaffe Zwilich.
Sharon Robinson's many awards include the Avery Fisher
Recital Award, the Piatigorsky
Memorial Award, and a Grammy
nomination.
n-American violinist, violist, and conductor Jaime Laredo
.
, Chandos
, First Edition, Koch International, Sony Classical
, and Vox
labels. A detailed discography is available here.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
cellist
Cello
The cello is a bowed string instrument with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is a member of the violin family of musical instruments, which also includes the violin, viola, and double bass. Old forms of the instrument in the Baroque era are baryton and viol .A person who plays a cello is...
. She has had a highly successful performing career, both as a concert solo artist and as a member of the Kalichstein
Joseph Kalichstein
Joseph Kalichstein is a renowned Israeli-born American classical pianist who performs in the concerto, solo recital and chamber music repertoire, the latter mainly with Jaime Laredo and Sharon Robinson in the Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio...
-Laredo
Jaime Laredo
Jaime Laredo is a violinist and conductor. Currently the conductor and Music Director of the Vermont Symphony Orchestra, he began his musical career when he was five years old. In 1948 he came to North America and took lessons from Antonio DeGrass...
-Robinson Trio, and has recorded extensively. Robinson is widely regarded as one of the leading cellists of her generation.
Early life and musical training
Robinson was born in Houston, TexasHouston, Texas
Houston is the fourth-largest city in the United States, and the largest city in the state of Texas. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, the city had a population of 2.1 million people within an area of . Houston is the seat of Harris County and the economic center of , which is the ...
, the daughter of Keith Robinson and Dorothe Fowler. Both parents were members of the Houston Symphony Orchestra
Houston Symphony Orchestra
The Houston Symphony is an American orchestra based in Houston, Texas. Since 1966, it has performed at the Jesse H. Jones Hall for the Performing Arts in downtown Houston....
: her father was the principal bassist, and her mother was a violinist. Sharon and all four of her siblings—bassist
Double bass
The double bass, also called the string bass, upright bass, standup bass or contrabass, is the largest and lowest-pitched bowed string instrument in the modern symphony orchestra, with strings usually tuned to E1, A1, D2 and G2...
Hal
Hal Robinson
Harold Hall Robinson is an American classical double bass player. He is currently the principal bassist of the Philadelphia Orchestra.-Early life and education:...
, violin
Violin
The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
ists Erica and Kim, and cellist Keith, Jr.—became professional string players with notable careers.
Sharon Robinson graduated from the North Carolina School of the Arts
North Carolina School of the Arts
The University of North Carolina School of the Arts , formerly the North Carolina School of the Arts, is a public coeducational arts conservatory in Winston-Salem, North Carolina that grants high school, undergraduate and graduate degrees. It is one of the seventeen constituent campuses of the...
in 1968. She attended the University of Southern California
University of Southern California
The University of Southern California is a private, not-for-profit, nonsectarian, research university located in Los Angeles, California, United States. USC was founded in 1880, making it California's oldest private research university...
in Los Angeles
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
and the Peabody Institute
Peabody Institute
The Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University is a renowned conservatory and preparatory school located in the Mount Vernon neighborhood of Baltimore, Maryland at the corner of Charles and Monument Streets at Mount Vernon Place.-History:...
in Baltimore, Maryland, from which she graduated with a bachelor's degree
Bachelor's degree
A bachelor's degree is usually an academic degree awarded for an undergraduate course or major that generally lasts for three or four years, but can range anywhere from two to six years depending on the region of the world...
in 1972.
Career
Sharon Robinson made her New YorkNew York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
performance debut in 1974, collaborating with violin
Violin
The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
ist/violist
Viola
The viola is a bowed string instrument. It is the middle voice of the violin family, between the violin and the cello.- Form :The viola is similar in material and construction to the violin. A full-size viola's body is between and longer than the body of a full-size violin , with an average...
Jaime Laredo
Jaime Laredo
Jaime Laredo is a violinist and conductor. Currently the conductor and Music Director of the Vermont Symphony Orchestra, he began his musical career when he was five years old. In 1948 he came to North America and took lessons from Antonio DeGrass...
and pianist
Pianist
A pianist is a musician who plays the piano. A professional pianist can perform solo pieces, play with an ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers, solo instrumentalists, or other performers.-Choice of genres:...
Samuel Sanders on a chamber music
Chamber music
Chamber music is a form of classical music, written for a small group of instruments which traditionally could be accommodated in a palace chamber. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small number of performers with one performer to a part...
recital. Of her 1977 solo recital debut, which featured works of Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven was a German composer and pianist. A crucial figure in the transition between the Classical and Romantic eras in Western art music, he remains one of the most famous and influential composers of all time.Born in Bonn, then the capital of the Electorate of Cologne and part of...
, Britten
Benjamin Britten
Edward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten, OM CH was an English composer, conductor, and pianist. He showed talent from an early age, and first came to public attention with the a cappella choral work A Boy Was Born in 1934. With the premiere of his opera Peter Grimes in 1945, he leapt to...
, Crumb
George Crumb
George Crumb is an American composer of contemporary classical music. He is noted as an explorer of unusual timbres, alternative forms of notation, and extended instrumental and vocal techniques. Examples include seagull effect for the cello , metallic vibrato for the piano George Crumb (born...
, and Rachmaninoff
Sergei Rachmaninoff
Sergei Vasilievich Rachmaninoff was a Russian composer, pianist, and conductor. Rachmaninoff is widely considered one of the finest pianists of his day and, as a composer, one of the last great representatives of Romanticism in Russian classical music...
, the New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
music critic Allen Hughes said, "she revealed an artistic personality that vitalized almost everything she played. . . . The cello tone glowed. . . the result was lovely. . . an impressive debut."
Robinson has performed as a soloist with the symphony orchestras of Baltimore
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra
The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra is a professional American symphony orchestra based in Baltimore, Maryland.In September 2007, Maestra Marin Alsop led her inaugural concerts as the Orchestra’s twelfth music director, making her the first woman to head a major American orchestra.The BSO Board...
, Boston
Boston Symphony Orchestra
The Boston Symphony Orchestra is an orchestra based in Boston, Massachusetts. It is one of the five American orchestras commonly referred to as the "Big Five". Founded in 1881, the BSO plays most of its concerts at Boston's Symphony Hall and in the summer performs at the Tanglewood Music Center...
, Dallas
Dallas Symphony Orchestra
The Dallas Symphony Orchestra is an American orchestra. It performs its concerts in the Meyerson Symphony Center in the Arts District of downtown Dallas, Texas, United States....
, Helsinki
Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra
The Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra is an orchestra based in Helsinki, Finland...
, Houston
Houston Symphony Orchestra
The Houston Symphony is an American orchestra based in Houston, Texas. Since 1966, it has performed at the Jesse H. Jones Hall for the Performing Arts in downtown Houston....
, London
London Symphony Orchestra
The London Symphony Orchestra is a major orchestra of the United Kingdom, as well as one of the best-known orchestras in the world. Since 1982, the LSO has been based in London's Barbican Centre.-History:...
, Los Angeles
Los Angeles Philharmonic
The Los Angeles Philharmonic is an American orchestra based in Los Angeles, California, United States. It has a regular season of concerts from October through June at the Walt Disney Concert Hall, and a summer season at the Hollywood Bowl from July through September...
, Minnesota
Minnesota Orchestra
The Minnesota Orchestra is an American orchestra based in Minneapolis, Minnesota.Emil Oberhoffer founded the orchestra as the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra in 1903, and it gave its first performance on November 5 of that year. In 1968 the orchestra changed to its name to the Minnesota Orchestra...
, Philadelphia
Philadelphia Orchestra
The Philadelphia Orchestra is a symphony orchestra based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in the United States. One of the "Big Five" American orchestras, it was founded in 1900...
, Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra
The Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra is an American orchestra based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The orchestra's home is Heinz Hall, located in Pittsburgh's Cultural District.-History:...
, St. Louis
Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra
The Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra is an American symphony orchestra based in St. Louis, Missouri. Founded in 1880 by Joseph Otten as the St. Louis Choral Society, the SLSO is the second-oldest symphony orchestra in the United States as it is preceded by the New York Philharmonic.-History:The St...
, and San Francisco
San Francisco Symphony
The San Francisco Symphony is an orchestra based in San Francisco, California. Since 1980, the orchestra has performed at the Louise M. Davies Symphony Hall. The San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra and the San Francisco Symphony Chorus are part of the organization...
; the National Symphony in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
, and the Tonhalle Orchestra
Tonhalle Orchester Zurich
Tonhalle Orchester Zürich is a symphony orchestra founded in 1868 in Zürich Switzerland, where it established its residence in the neue Tonhalle in 1895....
of Zürich
Zürich
Zurich is the largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is located in central Switzerland at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich...
; and the English
English Chamber Orchestra
The English Chamber Orchestra is a British chamber orchestra based in London. The full orchestra regularly plays concerts at Cadogan Hall, and the ECO Ensemble performs at Wigmore Hall...
, Scottish
Scottish Chamber Orchestra
The Scottish Chamber Orchestra is Scotland's national chamber orchestra, based in Edinburgh. One of Scotland’s five National Performing Arts Companies, the SCO performs throughout Scotland, including annual tours of the Scottish Highlands and Islands and South of Scotland. The SCO appears...
, and Franz Liszt
Franz Liszt Chamber Orchestra
The Franz Liszt Chamber Orchestra is a chamber orchestra based in Budapest, Hungary.The Franz Liszt Chamber Orchestra took the name of the great composer, to pay homage to the genius who became inseparable with the establishment of Hungarian music and whose spirit irradiates the musical life of...
Chamber Orchestras.
In 1977, Robinson and two colleagues, violinist Jaime Laredo
Jaime Laredo
Jaime Laredo is a violinist and conductor. Currently the conductor and Music Director of the Vermont Symphony Orchestra, he began his musical career when he was five years old. In 1948 he came to North America and took lessons from Antonio DeGrass...
and pianist Joseph Kalichstein
Joseph Kalichstein
Joseph Kalichstein is a renowned Israeli-born American classical pianist who performs in the concerto, solo recital and chamber music repertoire, the latter mainly with Jaime Laredo and Sharon Robinson in the Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio...
, formed the Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio, a piano trio
Piano trio
A piano trio is a group of piano and two other instruments, usually a violin and a cello, or a piece of music written for such a group. It is one of the most common forms found in classical chamber music...
. The group, which has performed and recorded worldwide (while maintaining its original personnel), is considered among the finest chamber ensembles in existence.
Robinson has participated in numerous music festival
Music festival
A music festival is a festival oriented towards music that is sometimes presented with a theme such as musical genre, nationality or locality of musicians, or holiday. They are commonly held outdoors, and are often inclusive of other attractions such as food and merchandise vending machines,...
s, including Aspen
Aspen Music Festival and School
The Aspen Music Festival and School, founded in 1949, is an internationally renowned classical music festival that presents music in an intimate, small-town setting...
, Autumn
Prague Autumn International Music Festival
Prague Autumn International Music Festival was the second largest classical music festival in Prague held annually in September. It was organised under the auspices of Václav Klaus, president of the Czech republic and was co-produced by the City of Prague.-History:The history of the festival...
(in Prague
Prague
Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...
), Edinburgh
Edinburgh International Festival
The Edinburgh International Festival is a festival of performing arts that takes place in the city of Edinburgh, Scotland, over three weeks from around the middle of August. By invitation from the Festival Director, the International Festival brings top class performers of music , theatre, opera...
, Granada, Madeira, Marlboro
Marlboro Music School and Festival
The Marlboro Music School and Festival is a retreat for advanced classical training and musicianship held for seven weeks each summer in Marlboro, Vermont...
, Mostly Mozart
Mostly Mozart
The Mostly Mozart Festival is a summer series of concerts held at Lincoln Center in New York City. Currently, the artistic director is Jane Moss while the music director is Louis Langrée. In 2006, it celebrated its 40th anniversary and the 250th anniversary of its namesake Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's...
(New York), South Bank (in London), and Spoleto
Spoleto Festival USA
Spoleto Festival USA in Charleston, South Carolina, is one of the world's major performing arts festivals. It was founded in 1977 by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Gian Carlo Menotti, who sought to establish a counterpart to the Festival dei Due Mondi in Spoleto, Italy...
. She has appeared on television programs including Sunday Morning
CBS News Sunday Morning
CBS News Sunday Morning is an American television news magazine program created by Robert Northshield and original host Charles Kuralt. The program has aired continuously since January 28, 1979 on the CBS Television Network, airing in the Eastern US on Sunday from 9:00 to 10:30 a.m...
and The Kennedy Center Honors
Kennedy Center Honors
The Kennedy Center Honors is an annual honor given to those in the performing arts for their lifetime of contributions to American culture. The Honors have been presented annually since 1978 in Washington, D.C., during gala weekend-long events which culminate in a performance for—and...
(CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
), The Today Show and The Tonight Show
The Tonight Show
The Tonight Show is an American late-night talk show that has aired on NBC since 1954. It is the longest currently running regularly scheduled entertainment program in the United States, and the third longest-running show on NBC, after Meet the Press and Today.The Tonight Show has been hosted by...
(NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
), Great Conversations in Music (PBS
Public Broadcasting Service
The Public Broadcasting Service is an American non-profit public broadcasting television network with 354 member TV stations in the United States which hold collective ownership. Its headquarters is in Arlington, Virginia....
), and The Dick Cavett Show
The Dick Cavett Show
The Dick Cavett Show has been the title of several talk shows hosted by Dick Cavett on various television networks, including:* ABC daytime ...
. She has taught privately and led master class
Master class
A master class is a class given to students of a particular discipline by an expert of that discipline—usually music, but also painting, drama, or any of the arts....
es worldwide, and in 2005 was appointed to the faculty of the Jacobs School of Music
Jacobs School of Music
The Jacobs School of Music of Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana, is a music conservatory established in 1921. Until 2005, it was known as the Indiana University School of Music...
at Indiana University
Indiana University
Indiana University is a multi-campus public university system in the state of Indiana, United States. Indiana University has a combined student body of more than 100,000 students, including approximately 42,000 students enrolled at the Indiana University Bloomington campus and approximately 37,000...
.
Among the many composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
s who have accepted commissions to write works for Robinson are Richard Danielpour
Richard Danielpour
Richard Danielpour is an American composer.-Biography:Danielpour is born of Persian/Jewish descent. He studied at Oberlin College and the New England Conservatory of Music, and later at the Juilliard School of Music, where he received a DMA in composition in 1986...
, Daron Hagen
Daron Hagen
Daron Aric Hagen , is an American composer, conductor, pianist, educator, librettist, and stage director of contemporary classical music and opera.- Early life and education :...
, Katherine Hoover, Leon Kirchner
Leon Kirchner
Leon Kirchner was an American composer of contemporary classical music. He was a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and was awarded a Pulitzer Prize for his String Quartet No. 3.Kirchner was born in Brooklyn, New York...
, David Ott
David Ott
David Ott is an American composer of classical music.Born in Crystal Falls, Michigan, Ott's works include four symphonies, an opera , the Annapolis Overture, written for the Annapolis Symphony Orchestra, and various pieces of children's music. He has been nominated for the Pulitzer Prize in Music ...
, Arvo Pärt
Arvo Pärt
Arvo Pärt is an Estonian classical composer and one of the most prominent living composers of sacred music. Since the late 1970s, Pärt has worked in a minimalist style that employs his self-made compositional technique, tintinnabuli. His music also finds its inspiration and influence from...
, Ned Rorem
Ned Rorem
Ned Rorem is a Pulitzer prize-winning American composer and diarist. He is best known and most praised for his song settings.-Life:...
, Stanley Silverman, Andy Stein
Andy Stein
Andy Stein is a saxophone and violin player in the United States best known for his appearances with the country rock band Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen. He is also known for the Guy's All-Star Shoe Band on the radio show "A Prairie Home Companion" and the movie. He has played on a...
, and Ellen Taaffe Zwilich.
Sharon Robinson's many awards include the Avery Fisher
Avery Fisher
Avery Robert Fisher was an audio specialist who made numerous contributions to the field of sound reproduction.-Early life:...
Recital Award, the Piatigorsky
Gregor Piatigorsky
Gregor Piatigorsky was a Russian-born American cellist.-Early life:...
Memorial Award, and a Grammy
Grammy Award
A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...
nomination.
Personal
Sharon Robinson has been married since 1977 to her trio colleague, the eminent BoliviaBolivia
Bolivia officially known as Plurinational State of Bolivia , is a landlocked country in central South America. It is the poorest country in South America...
n-American violinist, violist, and conductor Jaime Laredo
Jaime Laredo
Jaime Laredo is a violinist and conductor. Currently the conductor and Music Director of the Vermont Symphony Orchestra, he began his musical career when he was five years old. In 1948 he came to North America and took lessons from Antonio DeGrass...
.
Recordings
Sharon Robinson's discography includes over a dozen recordings of solo and chamber music on the Arabesque, BridgeBridge Records, Inc.
Bridge Records, Inc. is an independent record label based in New Rochelle, New York that specializes in 20th century classical music. Its president is Becky Starobin...
, Chandos
Chandos Records
Chandos Records is an independent classical music recording company based in Colchester, Essex, in the United Kingdom, founded in 1979 by Brian Couzens.- Background :...
, First Edition, Koch International, Sony Classical
Sony Classical Records
Sony Classical Records was started in 1927 as Columbia Masterworks Records, a subsidiary of the American Columbia Records. In 1948, it issued the first commercially successful long-playing 12" record...
, and Vox
Vox Records
VOX Records is a budget classical record label. The name is Latin for "voice."-History:Vox was founded in 1945, starting out with 78-rpm discs, specializing in licensed pressings of classical recordings made in Europe. It was one of the last major recording companies to adopt stereo recording,...
labels. A detailed discography is available here.
Sources
- Arts and Leisure Guide. The New York Times, 17 November 1974.
- Harris Co. TX - Births, 1949
- Musician Biographies: Sharon Robinson, Cellist: Great Conversations in Music (link)
- "Sharon Robinson, Cellist, Performs with Vitality" by Allen Hughes. The New York Times, 13 November 1977.
External links
- Sharon Robinson official website