Joseph Robinson, Artist-in-Residence
(Photo: Mike DiVito)
The Music Department, with support from the Mary Duke Biddle Foundation and Duke University, is delighted to welcome Joseph Robinson for a five-year term as Artist-in-Residence. While perhaps best known for his 27 years as principal oboist of the New York Philharmonic, Mr. Robinson's exceptional career is also by successes in chamber music, teaching, commissioning new work, and serving as a speaker and leader for musicians and the arts community worldwide. Mr. Robinson thus brings a wealth of experience to the residency, and during his time here he will work closely with students and faculty to enrich the culture of performance on campus and in the community.
Joseph is no stranger to Duke; he served as Visiting Assistant Professor here from 1976 to 1978 while also a member of the Clarion Wind Quintet. Prior to being chosen to join the Philharmonic by Zubin Mehta in 1977, Mr. Robinson was a faculty member of the North Carolina School of the Arts in Winston-Salem and Principal Oboe of the Atlanta Symphony under Robert Shaw. Periodic oboe studies through the years were with Cleveland Orchestra Principal John Mack, in whose name Mr. Robinson established one of the most successful specialty seminars of its kind in 1976. Mr. Robinson has appeared frequently as oboe soloist with the New York Philharmonic in Avery Fisher Hall and on tours of Europe and South America. He helped to commission, then premiered and recorded the Rochberg Oboe Concerto in 1984.
A native of Lenoir, North Carolina, Mr. Robinson holds degrees in English and economics from Davidson College (where he received an honorary doctorate and has served as Trustee) as well as a Master's Degree in public administration from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs of Princeton University. In 1963 he received a Fulbright Award to study government support of the arts in Germany. An exclusive teacher at the Manhattan School of Music for 23 years, Mr. Robinson counts many important oboists among his former students, including principal players in the Boston and San Francisco Symphonies and the Kennedy Center Orchestra in Washington, D.C.
A keynote speaker at state conferences on the arts in Wyoming and North Carolina, Mr. Robinson has published numerous articles concerning the interpretive art of music, orchestra governance, and instrumental training in the public schools. In 1994 he won a New York Emmy for the television concert/documentary "Heroes of Conscience." He is currently a member of the Board of Directors of the Brevard Music Center in North Carolina. In 1989 he proposed, planned, and arranged funding for the New York Philharmonic's residency at the Grand Teton Music Festival in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Mr. Robinson has recently served on the Knight Foundation's "Magic of Music" panel, which dispersed $6 million in support of America's orchestras, as well as on the Board of Oversees of the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia.
A complete discography and other information can be found on Mr. Robinson's website: www.oboejoe.net.