Will Robin, a doctoral student in musicology at UNC-Chapel Hill, will serve as the first-ever Scholar-in-Residence for the North Carolina Symphony.
Robin also is a member of the Royster Society of Fellows, which is the UNC Graduate School’s select interdisciplinary fellowship program providing full financial support, innovative approaches to learning and unique professional development opportunities.
A critic, scholar and performer, Robin is assistant editor of the Journal of the Society for American Music, and has written numerous pieces for The New Yorker and The New York Times. He was the main content curator for the “Reflections on the Rite” blog, a communications component of the University’s 2012-13 centennial observance of “The Rite of Spring.” Robin also helped coordinate a Royster Society seminar at which four guest scholars from three different disciplines discussed “How Did ‘The Rite of Spring’ Make it New?”
Robin’s academic research is grounded primarily in the 20th and 21st centuries, and his dissertation will focus on contemporary music in New York City after 2000.
“Many thousands of people have read (and many more will soon read) his writing on modern classical music, but very few people know, or would guess, that he’s a graduate student,” said Mark Katz, professor and chair of the Department of Music. “For being such a highflier, however, he’s admirably down-to-earth, works extremely hard and takes nothing for granted.”
In his new role with the North Carolina Symphony, Robin will contribute to Symphony program notes and website blogs and host pre-concert lectures. He also will provide context and a platform for deeper understanding of the newer works being presented throughout the season. Robin recently wrote the liner notes for the North Carolina Symphony’s recording of Benjamin Britten’s cello works featuring Zuill Bailey.
Read more from the Graduate School article.
Published Feb. 20, 2014.