Robin McNeil began his study of piano at DePauw University at the age of four. He has a Bachelor of Music in Piano Performance from Indiana University and a Master of Music in Piano Performance from the University of Illinois.
Mr. McNeil began his teaching career at the University of Illinois. He then went to the University of South Dakota where he was Chairman of the Piano Department and taught both graduate and undergraduate piano, piano literature, general music history, Medieval and Renaissance music literature, and a graduate course in bibliographic citation and the techniques of music research.
He has performed over three hundred concerts throughout the midwest and east as soloist, soloist with several symphony orchestras, duo pianist, a partner in four-hand concerts, chamber groups, and was the pianist with the University of South Dakota Contemporary Chamber Players. Mr. McNeil has written many musicology book reviews for Choice magazine of the American Library Asso¬ciation and Publisher’s Weekly, in addition to writing over three hundred articles on music criticism and commentary for newspapers. Mr. McNeil maintains a blog site, opuscolorado.com, which is dedicated to music criticism and commentary. He is also a published poet, and the Denver composer, David Mullikin, has used his poems for art song texts.
Robin teaches regularly at the Academy for Lifelong Learning and has also taught at The St. John Vianney Theological Seminary where he taught Medieval Liturgical Music. In spite of his retirement, he has also presented guest lectures at the universities in the Denver area and the United States.
In the past, Mr. McNeil has been thoroughly involved in arts management as the Executive Director of the Fine Arts Center of Clinton (Illinois), State Treasurer of the Association of Illinois Arts Agencies, and member of the Long Range Planning Committee of the Central Illinois Cultural Affairs Consortium. Mr. McNeil has been the Executive Director of the Denver Philharmonic Orchestra and has been a member of the Board of Directors of the Denver Philharmonic Orchestra Foundation.
Outside the sphere of music, Robin has raced Alfa Romeo and Ferrari automobiles, and he is a member of the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association.
Mr. McNeil now lives with his wife in Littleton where he teaches privately and continues to do research on the French composer, Théodore Gouvy and the Medieval Mass. Mr. McNeil is President of the Piano Arts Association, and an Honorary Member of the Institut Théodore Gouvy of Hombourg-Haut, France, and a member of The American Liszt Society.
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I was a student of J.B. Floyd’s from 1965 – 1970 at Northern Illinois University, graduating with a BA in piano performance. Although I did not pursue a career in music, it has been a big part of my life, and I’m currently board president for the Boulder Bach Festival. I recently reconnected with J.B. through a LinkedIn connection and learned that he is still (age 81) still teaching and performing from U of Miami (FL). He is still innovating and making life interesting.
Comment by Dan August 25, 2011 @ 9:41 amDear Mr. McNeil:
Comment by Hayg Boyadjian December 13, 2011 @ 12:58 pmJames Pellerite sent me the review you wrote about my solo CD “Vientos”. I have to admit that I was more than surprised as to how you understood my music even better than I. I am very thankful to you. Although I should say that this CD did receive also very positive reviews from Fanfare Magazine and the Flute Quarterly, but yours stands out as insightful. I would like to take the opportunity to ask you if I could interest you in looking at a new score of mine for piano solo, since you are a pianist, finished short ago, thus not performed yet. The title is “32 Variations on Bach” with the theme coming at the end as a surprise (the aria from the Goldberg Variations). I could e-mail you the score PDF or send you a paper copy, and if you like a synthesizer recording (to be listened with some grains of salt). Please let me know.
Again many thanks for your review. With best wishes, Hayg