Andrew Robinson has forged a unique professional career--combining teaching, theatre church music, accompanying, and composing--and strives to foster a love of music and excellence in those with whom he works. He is currently a second-year Doctor of Musical Arts in Choral Conducting and Pedagogy student at the University of Iowa, where he is the Assistant Conductor for Kantorei, teaches undergraduate choral conducting and literature, and sings in the University Choir. He is also Assistant Conductor for the Chamber Singers of Iowa City, a vocalist in Vocal Artists of Iowa and the Student Bach Chorus at UI, and teaches private voice lessons.
For ten years, Mr. Robinson instructed K-12 choral and general music at schools in Indiana, Iowa, and Ohio. Choirs under his direction earned consistently strong accolades at state and regional contests and performed in Carnegie Hall (The Music of Eric Whitacre, under the composer’s direction), Orchestra Hall in Chicago, Disneyland, at a Minnesota Twins baseball game, at Valparaiso University, with the Northwest Indiana Symphony Youth Orchestra, with the Northwest Indiana Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, and at the 2020 Indiana Music Education Association (IMEA) Professional Development Conference. The Munster (IN) High School Chorale was also slated to sing--as one of three choirs nationally--at the 2020 Windy City Choral Festival, which was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Mr. Robinson served as Host for regional ISSMA (IN) Solo and Ensemble Contest and the regional J/M/E Large Group Choral Contest, directed All-State Choir preparation rehearsals, and was Co-Director of the Munster Treble Makers, a 4th-6th Grade honor choir. Beyond general music classes and choral ensembles, he taught group piano, music theory (including AP level), music appreciation, voice lessons, and drama.
Mr. Robinson spent the Fall 2021 semester as an Adjunct Instructor in Music at Valparaiso University, where he conducted the Chorale as the sabbatical replacement for Christopher Cock. He led the 41-member ensemble in three major concerts, three church services, and a university presidential inauguration. The Chorale premiered two works he commissioned by Valparaiso University alumnus and up-and-coming composer Zac Flasch.
A proponent of collaboration, Mr. Robinson founded Voix d’Été, a volunteer, project-based choir based in northwest Indiana, in 2023. The ensemble's debut performance brought together vocalists from four states. He was Chorus Master for the world premiere of Symphony No. 5: Return to Middle Earth by Dutch composer Johan de Meij. In this role, he prepared the 200-voice ensemble for the symphony’s debut under the composer’s direction at Valparaiso University in 2018. The work, sung entirely in two Tolkein Elvish languages, has now been professionally recorded and performed all over the world. In 2019, he created and organized the Northwest Indiana High School Choral Festival, a non-competitive event which featured nine high school choirs, the Valparaiso University Chorale, and a 400+ singer mass ensemble in the Chapel of the Resurrection.
While teaching in public schools, Mr. Robinson worked in several churches as Music Director, Youth Music Director, Choir Director, Handbell Choir Director, Contemporary Worship Director, and Organist. He performs professionally in Vocal Artists of Iowa and the Chamber Singers of Iowa City, and recently as a Professional Chorister in The Bach Choir in Valparaiso, IN. He has sung tenor and bass solos in works by, among many others, Mozart, Stravinsky, Vaughan Williams, and in Messiah, Part 1. As a pianist, he accompanied dozens of students at regional and state Solo and Ensemble Contests. In addition, he has a strong theatre background, acting and singing in nearly one dozen plays, musicals, and operas. Mr. Robinson assisted many high school and community productions as Music Director, Vocal Music Director, Technical Director, Director, Pit Orchestra Conductor, rehearsal accompanist, and pit orchestra keyboardist over the last eleven years. He was recently the Opera Chorus Director for the University of Iowa's production of Pietro Mascagni's L'amico Fritz.
As a composer and arranger, Mr. Robinson received First Prize in the 2016 Suspicious Cheese Lords Composition Competition in Washington, DC. Two of his compositions and arrangements were featured at state music education conferences in Indiana and Ohio. He also wrote the theme song for the highly acclaimed children's math YouTube channel, Doodles and Digits, which is preparing for a move to PBS. He has been commissioned by schools, churches, and community groups throughout the Midwest.
Recognizing his dedication to music education, Mr. Robinson was selected for membership in Marquis Who's Who in America in 2022, and he received both the 2021 Excellence in Teaching Award from the Valparaiso University Interfraternity Council and the 2020 First Decade Alumni Achievement Award from the Valparaiso University Alumni Association. In 2019, he was inducted as a Sigma Alpha Iota professional women’s music fraternity national Friend of the Arts. That same year, he was a finalist for the Secondary Music Educator of the Year Award presented by IMEA. During his tenure at Munster High School, he was selected as a Golden Apple Excellence in Teaching recipient every year.
Since 2018, Mr. Robinson serves as Chair of the Indiana All-State Handbell Choir. This first-of-its-kind ensemble features talented high school ringers from across the state, who rehearse and perform at the IMEA Professional Development Conference each January. During his leadership, the Handbell Choir has more than doubled in size. He was recently the Site Chair, overseeing all logistics, for the Handbell Musicians of America Area 5 Spring Festival in South Bend, IN. In the summer of 2009, he was the Handbell Choir Intern at Lutheran Summer Music, a month-long academy for 8th-12th Grade students from all over the world.
Other recent professional highlights include participating in the 2023 University of Missouri-Kansas City Choral Conducting Institute with Jennaya Robison and Ben Spalding and preparing the Chamber Singers of Iowa City for a collaborative performance of Benjamin Britten's War Requiem with the University of Iowa choirs and Symphony Orchestra. In 2024, he will present a session on starting a handbell or hand chime choir in a school setting and be a featured conductor in a masterclass with Francis Cathlina at the Indiana Music Education Association Professional Development Conference, and he will sing with Vocal Artists of Iowa at the Midwestern ACDA Regional Conference in Omaha.
As a researcher, Mr. Robinson is examining the Magnificat settings of Charles Villiers Stanford for his dissertation. He is also interested in the music of Ireland, ethnomusicology, mentorship and modeling for music education and conducting students, conducting gesture and pedagogy, music theory and theory/aural skills pedagogy, musicology pedagogy, choral music methods, and the relationship between text and affect in choral music compositions.
Mr. Robinson received his Bachelor of Arts summa cum laude in Vocal Performance from Valparaiso University, where he was a Founders Scholar and Christ College (Honors College) Scholar, and his Master of Music Teaching in Choral/Vocal Music Education from Oberlin College Conservatory of Music, as the recipient of both the Herbert Henke Music Education Scholarship and Conservatory Dean’s Scholarship. He studied conducting with Christopher Cock, Jeffrey Doebler, Dennis Friesen-Carper, Jody Kerchner, and is currently a student of Timothy Stalter with additional work with David Puderbaugh. Vocal studies with Ralph Klapis, Catherine McCord Larsen, and David Price, piano with Brenda Westbeld, and organ with Paula Maust and Anne Saylor are part of his development as an musician. In addition, he credits the mentorship from Bill Zurkey, Charles R. Snyder, John Long, Michael Sewell, and Lisa Robinson-Boyer as integral to his artistic strengths and pedagogical philosophies. He is a member of the American Choral Directors Association, Handbell Musicians of America, Indiana Choral Directors Association, Indiana Music Education Association, International Federation for Choral Music, Iowa Music Education Association, NAfME: The National Association for Music Education, National Collegiate Choral Organization, Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia, and Pi Kappa Lambda music honor society.
For ten years, Mr. Robinson instructed K-12 choral and general music at schools in Indiana, Iowa, and Ohio. Choirs under his direction earned consistently strong accolades at state and regional contests and performed in Carnegie Hall (The Music of Eric Whitacre, under the composer’s direction), Orchestra Hall in Chicago, Disneyland, at a Minnesota Twins baseball game, at Valparaiso University, with the Northwest Indiana Symphony Youth Orchestra, with the Northwest Indiana Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, and at the 2020 Indiana Music Education Association (IMEA) Professional Development Conference. The Munster (IN) High School Chorale was also slated to sing--as one of three choirs nationally--at the 2020 Windy City Choral Festival, which was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Mr. Robinson served as Host for regional ISSMA (IN) Solo and Ensemble Contest and the regional J/M/E Large Group Choral Contest, directed All-State Choir preparation rehearsals, and was Co-Director of the Munster Treble Makers, a 4th-6th Grade honor choir. Beyond general music classes and choral ensembles, he taught group piano, music theory (including AP level), music appreciation, voice lessons, and drama.
Mr. Robinson spent the Fall 2021 semester as an Adjunct Instructor in Music at Valparaiso University, where he conducted the Chorale as the sabbatical replacement for Christopher Cock. He led the 41-member ensemble in three major concerts, three church services, and a university presidential inauguration. The Chorale premiered two works he commissioned by Valparaiso University alumnus and up-and-coming composer Zac Flasch.
A proponent of collaboration, Mr. Robinson founded Voix d’Été, a volunteer, project-based choir based in northwest Indiana, in 2023. The ensemble's debut performance brought together vocalists from four states. He was Chorus Master for the world premiere of Symphony No. 5: Return to Middle Earth by Dutch composer Johan de Meij. In this role, he prepared the 200-voice ensemble for the symphony’s debut under the composer’s direction at Valparaiso University in 2018. The work, sung entirely in two Tolkein Elvish languages, has now been professionally recorded and performed all over the world. In 2019, he created and organized the Northwest Indiana High School Choral Festival, a non-competitive event which featured nine high school choirs, the Valparaiso University Chorale, and a 400+ singer mass ensemble in the Chapel of the Resurrection.
While teaching in public schools, Mr. Robinson worked in several churches as Music Director, Youth Music Director, Choir Director, Handbell Choir Director, Contemporary Worship Director, and Organist. He performs professionally in Vocal Artists of Iowa and the Chamber Singers of Iowa City, and recently as a Professional Chorister in The Bach Choir in Valparaiso, IN. He has sung tenor and bass solos in works by, among many others, Mozart, Stravinsky, Vaughan Williams, and in Messiah, Part 1. As a pianist, he accompanied dozens of students at regional and state Solo and Ensemble Contests. In addition, he has a strong theatre background, acting and singing in nearly one dozen plays, musicals, and operas. Mr. Robinson assisted many high school and community productions as Music Director, Vocal Music Director, Technical Director, Director, Pit Orchestra Conductor, rehearsal accompanist, and pit orchestra keyboardist over the last eleven years. He was recently the Opera Chorus Director for the University of Iowa's production of Pietro Mascagni's L'amico Fritz.
As a composer and arranger, Mr. Robinson received First Prize in the 2016 Suspicious Cheese Lords Composition Competition in Washington, DC. Two of his compositions and arrangements were featured at state music education conferences in Indiana and Ohio. He also wrote the theme song for the highly acclaimed children's math YouTube channel, Doodles and Digits, which is preparing for a move to PBS. He has been commissioned by schools, churches, and community groups throughout the Midwest.
Recognizing his dedication to music education, Mr. Robinson was selected for membership in Marquis Who's Who in America in 2022, and he received both the 2021 Excellence in Teaching Award from the Valparaiso University Interfraternity Council and the 2020 First Decade Alumni Achievement Award from the Valparaiso University Alumni Association. In 2019, he was inducted as a Sigma Alpha Iota professional women’s music fraternity national Friend of the Arts. That same year, he was a finalist for the Secondary Music Educator of the Year Award presented by IMEA. During his tenure at Munster High School, he was selected as a Golden Apple Excellence in Teaching recipient every year.
Since 2018, Mr. Robinson serves as Chair of the Indiana All-State Handbell Choir. This first-of-its-kind ensemble features talented high school ringers from across the state, who rehearse and perform at the IMEA Professional Development Conference each January. During his leadership, the Handbell Choir has more than doubled in size. He was recently the Site Chair, overseeing all logistics, for the Handbell Musicians of America Area 5 Spring Festival in South Bend, IN. In the summer of 2009, he was the Handbell Choir Intern at Lutheran Summer Music, a month-long academy for 8th-12th Grade students from all over the world.
Other recent professional highlights include participating in the 2023 University of Missouri-Kansas City Choral Conducting Institute with Jennaya Robison and Ben Spalding and preparing the Chamber Singers of Iowa City for a collaborative performance of Benjamin Britten's War Requiem with the University of Iowa choirs and Symphony Orchestra. In 2024, he will present a session on starting a handbell or hand chime choir in a school setting and be a featured conductor in a masterclass with Francis Cathlina at the Indiana Music Education Association Professional Development Conference, and he will sing with Vocal Artists of Iowa at the Midwestern ACDA Regional Conference in Omaha.
As a researcher, Mr. Robinson is examining the Magnificat settings of Charles Villiers Stanford for his dissertation. He is also interested in the music of Ireland, ethnomusicology, mentorship and modeling for music education and conducting students, conducting gesture and pedagogy, music theory and theory/aural skills pedagogy, musicology pedagogy, choral music methods, and the relationship between text and affect in choral music compositions.
Mr. Robinson received his Bachelor of Arts summa cum laude in Vocal Performance from Valparaiso University, where he was a Founders Scholar and Christ College (Honors College) Scholar, and his Master of Music Teaching in Choral/Vocal Music Education from Oberlin College Conservatory of Music, as the recipient of both the Herbert Henke Music Education Scholarship and Conservatory Dean’s Scholarship. He studied conducting with Christopher Cock, Jeffrey Doebler, Dennis Friesen-Carper, Jody Kerchner, and is currently a student of Timothy Stalter with additional work with David Puderbaugh. Vocal studies with Ralph Klapis, Catherine McCord Larsen, and David Price, piano with Brenda Westbeld, and organ with Paula Maust and Anne Saylor are part of his development as an musician. In addition, he credits the mentorship from Bill Zurkey, Charles R. Snyder, John Long, Michael Sewell, and Lisa Robinson-Boyer as integral to his artistic strengths and pedagogical philosophies. He is a member of the American Choral Directors Association, Handbell Musicians of America, Indiana Choral Directors Association, Indiana Music Education Association, International Federation for Choral Music, Iowa Music Education Association, NAfME: The National Association for Music Education, National Collegiate Choral Organization, Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia, and Pi Kappa Lambda music honor society.