Music Director Robert Baldwin

Robert Baldwin is Music Director for the Salt Lake Symphony and Director of Orchestral Activities at the University of Utah.  His tenure with the Salt Lake Symphony has resulted in increased audiences, repertoire expansion and community visibility.  He is also the conductor for “It’s a Grand Night for Singing,” in Lexington, Kentucky, and has held conducting positions with the University of Kentucky, Lexington Philharmonic, New American Symphony, Northern Arizona University, and Flagstaff Symphony orchestras.  Also an accomplished violist, he has held several positions, including professor of viola at Northern Arizona University and principal viola with the Arkansas Symphony, Flagstaff Symphony, and Arizona Opera Orchestras.

Guest conducting appearances include the Hermitage Camerata Symphony in Saint Petersburg, Russia, the Lexington Philharmonic, Utah Virtuosi Brass, Flagstaff Festival of the Arts, Colorado State University, the Abilene Tri-Collegiate Opera, and numerous festivals and All-State Orchestras around the country.  He has upcoming concerts in Finland, Arkansas, Kentucky and New York City. His performances have been featured on National Public Radio’s Performance Today and Weekend Edition, as well as in the New Yorker magazine.

A published author on music, he has written for music journals and periodicals, and contributed to a book on preparing orchestral viola sections in the recently published Playing the Viola.  In 2007 he was awarded the Higher Education Teacher of the Year award by the Utah chapter of the American String Teachers Association.

As a violist, experiences include guest appearances with the Amadeus Trio, and the Saint Petersburg and Stanford String Quartets. He has appeared as a soloist with the Flagstaff Symphony, SMU Festival Orchestra, and Sedona Chamber Music Festival.  He was violist of the Arizona-based Coconino Chamber Ensemble from 1989-1999.  Recent appearances include recitals in the US and Mexico, and performances with the University Faculty Chamber Players, the Utah Chamber Artists and the Utah Symphony.

Dr. Baldwin studied in the United States and in Saint Petersburg, Russia.  He holds degrees from the University of Northern Colorado, University of Iowa, and the University of Arizona, where he received the Graduate Achievement Award.  His conducting teachers have included Mikhail Kukushkin, Alexander Polishuk, James Dixon, Duilio Dobrin, Eugene Corporon, and Gregg Hanson.  He has studied viola with Jeffrey Showell, William Preucil, Sr., Ronald Smith and Vernon Ashcraft and has performed in master classes for Gustav Meier, Kenneth Kiesler, the Tokyo String Quartet, and Atar Arad, among others.

His wife, Maria, is a violist with the Salt lake Symphony and teaches viola and Kindermusik (music for young children).  His two children, Daren and Alyssa study cello and viola, respectively.  In his spare time Rob enjoys hiking, fishing, reading, travel and spending time with his family.