Program

Schumann: Three Romances for Oboe and Piano, Op. 94
Mozart: Oboe Concerto in C major, K. 314, mvmt. III
Jini Baik

Hindemith: English Horn Sonata, excerpts
Sebastian Pereschica

Respighi: Pines of Rome, excerpts
Ravel: Rapsodie espagnole
Hindemith: English Horn Sonata, excerpts
Jasper Igusa

Telemann: Fantasia No. 3 from 12 Fantasias for Solo Flute
Ravel: Le Tombeau de Couperin, excerpts
Brahms: Violin Concerto in D Major, Op. 77, excerpts
Virginia Kao

Strauss: Ein Heldenleben, excerpts
Rodrigo: Concierto de Aranjuez, excerpts
Dvořák: New World Symphony
Casey Kearny

Mozart: Oboe Concerto in C major, K. 314, 1st mvt
Ravel: Le Tombeau de Couperin, excerpts
Brahms: Violin Concerto in D Major, Op. 77, mvmt. II, excerpts
Ben Brogadir

About Robert Walters

Robert Walters, Jr., is a member of the oboe section and the solo English horn player in the Cleveland Orchestra, a position he has held since 2004. Prior to this appointment, he was the solo English horn player in the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, a position he successfully auditioned for in 1999 and assumed at the beginning of the 2000-2001 season. Walters played English horn in the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra for four years from 1996 to 2000. He is a frequent soloist with major symphony and chamber orchestras.

Robert was born on December 5, 1965, in Los Angeles, California, the son of Robert Douglas and Myrna Mae Kenney Walters.  His father, a string performer, composer, teacher, and conductor, was a third generation musician in a family of accomplished performers and teachers.

Robert’s interest in the oboe began with a concert by the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra at his school when he was nine. An extended solo by the oboist caught his ear and piqued his interest; a visit with the player following the concert and a closer examination of the instrument and a subsequent viewing of the concert on PBS with his father led to the decision to learn the oboe. His love of music and innate ability, coupled with a creative incentive program for practice created by his father, led to rapid progress on the instrument as he began study with Dan Shultz and then continued with the professor in oboe, Robert O’Boyle, at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln.

At age thirteen, he was drafted as a last resort by his father, conductor of the Lincoln Civic Orchestra, to play first oboe at its inaugural concert.  Although young Robert later observed that "I went in dragging my heels, kicking, and screaming," a review of the concert that mentioned and praised his playing was incentive enough for him to continue holding that chair for the next three years.

In ninth grade, Robert's visit to the Rocky Ridge Festival and the inspiration it afforded led to a decision to pursue a musical career. Following completion of a GED exam and a semester at Union College, where his father, Robert, Sr., was chair of the fine arts department, he left home at age sixteen to study oboe with Richard Woodhams, principal oboist of the Philadelphia Orchestra.

He subsequently attended Curtis Institute of Music, where he first played the English horn and became acquainted with what, since graduation in 1990, has proven to be a network of musical associates and friends. By his early twenties he was substituting in and touring and recording with the Philadelphia Orchestra under Riccardo Muti. In 1989 and 1990 he attended the Blossom Music Festival, where he studied with the late John Mack, principal oboist of the Cleveland Orchestra at that time.

While studying at Curtis, Walters wrote a play, Songs of Addiction, which was sent to a director in New York by a friend. It was produced off-off-Broadway in 1991 and ran for thirty performances. Walters moved to New York in that same year, hoping to establish himself as a free-lance oboist. His success with his play that year and other successful ventures in writing led to an interest in pursuing writing at Columbia University. At this point, Walters says, "I decided that if by the end of the year I could have established myself as an oboist, then I would allow myself to go to Columbia - if I got in. Both things happened."

While Walters wrote, he played oboe and English horn as a soloist with and performer in a number of groups, including the American Symphony Orchestra, Brooklyn Philharmonic, Orchestra of St. Lukes, New York Chamber Symphony, American Ballet Theater, the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, and the orchestra in Phantom of the Opera, in addition to studio work for TV commercials and films.

He spent five summers at the Marlboro Music Festival (1991-95), three summers at the Spoleto Festival (1991-93), and six summers at the Bard Music Festival (1994-95). He also toured as a member of Musicians from Marlboro in 1994.

Walters completed an MFA in creative writing at Columbia in 1995. He has written opera librettos and other musical texts, including one for a choral piece, Lullaby Requiem in the Time of AIDS, which he wrote with Robert Convery. It was premiered at Lincoln Center in 1993 by Musica Sacre.

The opportunity for a full-time position arose in 1996 when the English horn player in the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra retired. Walters auditioned for the opening and was accepted. Four years later he successfully auditioned for the solo English horn position in the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and in 2004 was invited to join the Cleveland Orchestra. Although offered the position of solo English horn in the New York Philharmonic Orchestra in October 2012, he declined.

Walters is a frequent soloist with the Cleveland Orchestra and has soloed with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, Beijing Radio Symphony, New York Chamber Soloists, and the Concerto Soloists of Philadelphia. He became a member of the artist faculty of the Aspen Music Festival in 2005 and a member of the oboe faculty at Oberlin Conservatory of Music in February 2006. In July 2010 he became professor of oboe and English horn at Oberlin.  He was honored in 2017 with an Excellence in Teaching Award for the 2015-2016 school year. 

He teaches his students to approach their playing with a broad perspective, cautioning them "It's not just about the instrument, it's about the music." Several of his students now hold chairs in major orchestras.

Walters is married to Grace Chin and they have two daughters.