Cellist Keith Robinson is a founding member of the award-winning Miami String Quartet, and he’s been an active chamber musician, recitalist, and soloist since he graduated from the Curtis Institute of Music. He’s made numerous solo appearances with orchestras throughout the United States, including the American Sinfonietta, New World Symphony, and Miami Chamber Symphony, and in 1989 he won the P.A.C.E. Classical Artist of the Year Award.
As a member of the Miami String Quartet, which was formed in 1988, Mr. Robinson has recorded for the BMG, CRI, Musical Heritage Society, and Pyramid record labels. A recent recording on Blue Griffin Records features him and his colleague Donna Lee performing Mendelssohn’s complete works for cello and piano. In Fanfare magazine, Lynn René Bayley wrote: “I have sampled [other CDs of Mendelssohn’s works for cello and piano] and found [them] very fine, but my gut feeling is still to go with Robinson and Lee. This one is, quite simply, amazing.” Mr. Robinson and Ms. Lee have also performed Beethoven’s complete works for cello and piano on many occasions.
Mr. Robinson regularly appears at several music festivals, including the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival; Music from Angel Fire; the Virginia Arts Festival; and the Kent Blossom, Bravo! Vail, and Savannah music festivals. Recent performance highlights include engagements at Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall in New York City and venues in Boston, Indianapolis, Los Angeles, New Orleans, Philadelphia, St. Paul, San Francisco, and Seattle. International highlights include appearances in Bern, Cologne, Hong Kong, Istanbul, Lausanne, Mexico City, Montreal, Paris, Rio de Janeiro, Taipei, and Vancouver. Mr. Robinson is a regular performer at Music@Menlo, and he regularly appears with The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. He is also on the chamber music faculty of the Cleveland Institute of Music.
Keith Robinson hails from a musical family, and his siblings include cellist Sharon Robinson, of the Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio, and Hal Robinson, principal bass of The Philadelphia Orchestra. Mr. Robinson plays a Carlo Tononi cello made in Venice in 1725.