Robert McDuffie

Instrumentalists — Violin

Manager: Tim Fox
Management Territory: Worldwide

The first performance of the work – Violin Concerto No. 2, "The American Four Seasons" – was so spectacularly played by the new piece's muse, American violinist Robert McDuffie, at Roy Thomson Hall Wednesday night, that the event turned into one of the most exciting musical evenings of the year. —Toronto Star (World Premiere Performance, Toronto, December 9, 2009)

"Emotional spontaneity, imperturbable virtuosity and an ever-sweet tone." —Los Angeles Times

"McDuffie has a brilliant technique as well as spontaneous and clearly delineated emotion." —Die Welt

About

Robert McDuffie has appeared as soloist with most of the major orchestras of the world.

Recent appearances abroad have been at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam with the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic, in France with the Orchestre National Bordeaux Aquetaine, at the Philharmonie in Cologne with the Bochum Symphoniker, in Seoul with the KBS Symphony, in Taipei with the National Symphony Orchestra of Taiwan, in Hamburg with the Hamburg Symphony, followed by a 22 city US tour, in Jerusalem with the Jerusalem Symphony, including a 16 city US tour, and with . . . the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra.

This season is highlighted by the premiere of Concerto for Violin No. 2, The American Four Seasons, a new work by Philip Glass written for Robert McDuffie - the World Premiere with the Toronto Symphony, the European Premiere with the London Philharmonic, the US Premiere at the Aspen Music Festival. He will record the concerto, along with the Vivaldi Four Seasons, for Telarc. He returns to the Cartagena, Aspen, and Amelia Island Festivals, as well as the Rome Chamber Music Festival, where he is Founder and Artistic Director. He played with the National Symphony Orchestra on the West Lawn of the Capitol in the annual Memorial Day Celebration, which was televised live over PBS. Future plans include a US tour with the Dûsseldorf Symphony with Andrey Boreyko, performing the violin concertos of Mendelssohn and Barber. He will tour with the Venice Baroque Orchestra, performing the Glass Concerto for Violin No. 2 and the Vivaldi Four Seasons - a 30 city tour of the US in the fall of 2010; a tour of Europe in the fall of 2011; and a tour of Asia in the fall of 2012.

McDuffie is a Grammy nominated artist, whose acclaimed Telarc and EMI recordings include the violin concertos of Mendelssohn, Bruch, Adams, Glass, Barber, Rozsa, Bernstein, William Schuman, and Viennese favorites. He plays a 1735 Guarneri del Gesu violin.

Robert McDuffie is a Distinguished University Professor of Music at Mercer University in his hometown of Macon, Georgia. In fall 2009, the Robert McDuffie Center for Strings at Mercer University entered its third academic year. The Mayor of Rome has recently awarded Robert McDuffie the prestigious Premio Simpatia in recognition of his contribution to the cultural life of that city. He lives in New York with his wife and two children.

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