He is a violinist born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, who was interested in the violin from a very early age and began his studies with the instrument when he was just three years old. He went on and entered the Temple University’s Center for Gifted Young Musicians and later at the Eastman School of Music and the Music Academy of the West.
When he was thirteen he was the winner of the Albert M. Greenfield competition and this led to him debuting as a soloist with the Philadelphia Orchestra. He later went on to give performances with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra and be the Concertmaster for the Eastman Philharmonia while he was a student there.
During the course of his career he has been the Concertmaster for the Maryland Symphony Orchestra, the Principal second violin for the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, a violinist for the Delaware Symphony, Haddonfield Symphony, Lancaster Symphony, Opera Company of Phildelphia, Orchestra 2001, the Pennsylvania Ballet and Peter Nero and the Philly Pops and taken part in several music festivals as the resident artist.
He has also accompanied many singers and groups in concert and in the studio and these include Ian Anderson, Julie Andrews, Elvis Costello, Ben Folds, Josh Groban, R. Kelly, Patti LaBelle, k.d. Lang, John Legend, the Manhattan Transfer, Barry Manilow and Luciano Pavarotti among many more.
Here is Robert performing “This Time” from John Legend’s Evolver…
Sources:
- http://www.myspace.com/robmartinviolinist
- http://www.violinist.com/directory/bio.cfm?member=robmartin
- http://www.chamberorchestra.org/main.cfm?page=musicians
- http://www.herald-mail.com/?cmd=displaystory&story_id=243963&format=html
- http://www.marylandsymphony.org/martin.shtml
- http://www.temple.edu/boyer/musicprep/announcements/awards.htm
- http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:ajfixzt5ldfe~T4