Robin Wilson - violin
Regarded as one of Australia’s leading pedagogues, Dr Robin Wilson is Head of Violin and Head of Young ANAM at the Australian National Academy of Music in Melbourne. Previously, he held appointments as Lecturer in Violin and Pedagogy at the University of Sydney and the Australian Institute of Music, and String Pedagogy Fellow at the University of Queensland. He continues to teach at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music. His students are regular prizewinners of many major national and international competitions, including the Symphony Australia Young Performer of the Year Award and the Yehudi Menuhin International Violin Competition and hold professional positions and have performed as soloists with the major Australian Orchestras.
As a member of the acclaimed historical performance ensemble Ironwood, he regularly tours nationally and internationally, performing at major venues and festivals throughout Australia, USA and the UK and has recorded for ABC Classics, Vexations840 and VDE-Gallo. He also tours nationally as a member of the Melbourne Chamber Orchestra’s flagship ensemble, the Australian Octet. He has given solo recitals and been broadcast on radio throughout Australasia and his solo discography includes two discs of violin encores and the complete Schubert Sonatas for violin and piano with pianist Kemp English (DECCA and Ode Records) that was nominated for Classical Disc of the Year at the 2009 New Zealand Music Awards. Robin is the former Leader of the ARCO Chamber Orchestra, has appeared as guest violinist with leading Australian ensembles such as the Sydney Omega Ensemble, Ensemble Liaison, Australia Quartet and Nexus 2MBSFM Virtuosi, and played for several years with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Australian Opera and Ballet Orchestra and Orchestra of the Antipodes.
Holding a PhD from the University of Sydney on the historically informed performance of Brahms's music,
Robin’s research was awarded the prestigious international 2014 Karl Geiringer Prize from the American Brahms Society. He has presented and performed at major international conferences such as ”Reactions to the Record” at Stanford University, “Performing Brahms in the Twenty-first Century” at Leeds University, “Brahms in the New Century” at the City University of New York and “Brahms in the Home” at the Royal College of Music London and has presented lectures and performances at other leading institutions such as Yale University, Eastman School of Music and the Royal Northern College of Music Manchester. In 2015 he represented the Sydney Conservatorium of Music at the DDCA Australasian Symposium “The Outstanding Field”. As a pedagogue, he has given masterclasses throughout Australasia, USA, UK and Singapore. A regular tutor for AYO chamber players, he has presented at national pedagogy conferences, and for many years designed and lectured undergraduate and postgraduate pedagogy curriculum at several universities and delivered professional pedagogy development courses in Sydney. He has participated twice in the Delay Starling Symposium at the Juilliard School in New York and spent considerable time at the Yehudi Menuhin School in England observing renowned teacher Natasha Boyarsky.
Robin holds Bachelor and Masters Degrees in Performance and Pedagogy studying with Alice Waten, and worked with Janet Davies in Sydney. Robin also studied with James Buswell at The New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, Beryl Kimber at the Elder Conservatorium in Adelaide, Pamela Dowsett and Jan Tawroszewicz in New Zealand and Felix Andrievsky and David Takeno in London.
Robin plays a Gagliano workshop violin, Naples, 1784.