Robin Spielberg
Encyclopedia
Robin Spielberg is an American
pianist who was born in New Jersey
. Raised in the suburban town of Maplewood
, she is a Columbia High School
alumni. She attended Michigan State University
and later Tisch School of the Arts
at New York University
where she graduated with high honors and a BFA in drama. She currently lives in the rural community of New Freedom, Pennsylvania
.
solos in 1993 entitled Heal of the Hand. The CD, recorded on borrowed funds, caught on quickly with Spielberg's listeners in New York City
piano rooms
and hotel lobbies.The album was picked up by the indie label North Star Music in 1994 and went on to become the label's best-selling album in their ten-year history. Spielberg signed a six-record deal with North Star Music and recorded two albums per year for the next three years before founding her own label, playMountain Music in 2000. Robin Spielberg has recorded sixteen CDs and appears on over fifty compilations. She is one of America's premiere female composer
/pianists and has an active tour schedule.
Robin Spielberg comes from a musical family. Her paternal grandfather, Rubin Spielberg was a flutist who performed with the NBC Symphony Orchestra
and the Metropolitan Opera
.Her great uncle Herman Spielberg, was a member of the first violin section of the NBC Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Arturo Toscanini
. Other Spielberg family members were musicians and music instructors in their home country of Russia
. Robin Spielberg's love of music began at an early age. She picked up melodies easily on the family electric Magnus Chord Organ
and by age five could play more than fifty songs. She began formal piano lessons at age eight.
Robin attended Stagedoor Manor
and Phillips Academy
Andover to study acting as a teen. Leading roles at Michigan State University
and New York University followed including Anne in the Diary of Anne Frank, Golden Boy, Night Music. After participating in a summer acting program led by William H. Macy
and David Mamet
, she and her classmates formed the Atlantic Theater Company
, an ensemble-based theater company. Robin Spielberg acted dozens of plays with the company including Boys' Life and The Lights by Howard Korder
at Lincoln Center. Robin Spielberg graduated NYU with high honors and a BFA in Undergraduate Drama. She went on to compose music for several of the Atlantic Theater Company's productions including Three Sisters
, directed by William H. Macy and adapted by David Mamet] The Poet and the Rent and The Revenge of the Space Pandas, two children's plays by David Mamet performed on National Public Radio (NPR). In 1992 Robin Spielberg and Barry Shulak co-wrote a musical for young audiences entitled Balloonland. It was produced in Vermont by the Atlantic Theater Company and debuted in New York off-broadway at the Atlantic theater Company in 1993.
Spielberg was also an inaugural member of the Independent Music Awards'
judging panel to support independent artists.
Association. As Spokesperson, Robin Spielberg often conducts seminars and workshops on the transformative power of music in hospitals, schools and community centers while on tour. She has toured from coast to coast from New York to California, from Florida to Maine and everywhere in between. Performance highlights include three sold-out performances at the Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall
(New York City), and a month-long tour through rural Montana.
Robin Spielberg's music is popular with Asian audiences. She has toured through South Korea three times appearing at KBS Hall
, Seoul Arts Center
and the LG Arts Center (2010). She is signed with Sony/ATV Music Publishing
in Asia. Robin's famous encore piece, An Improvisation on the Canon in D
is part of the hit Korean drama Winter Sonata
. The series was released on DVD in November 2010 in Japan.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
pianist who was born in New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
. Raised in the suburban town of Maplewood
Maplewood, New Jersey
Maplewood is a township in Essex County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the township population was 23,867.-History:...
, she is a Columbia High School
Columbia High School (New Jersey)
Columbia High School is a four-year comprehensive regional public high school located at 17 Parker Avenue in Maplewood, New Jersey, which serves students in grades nine through twelve within the South Orange-Maplewood School District, which includes Maplewood and South Orange Townships...
alumni. She attended Michigan State University
Michigan State University
Michigan State University is a public research university in East Lansing, Michigan, USA. Founded in 1855, it was the pioneer land-grant institution and served as a model for future land-grant colleges in the United States under the 1862 Morrill Act.MSU pioneered the studies of packaging,...
and later Tisch School of the Arts
Tisch School of the Arts
Tisch School of the Arts is one of the 15 schools that make up New York University ....
at New York University
New York University
New York University is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...
where she graduated with high honors and a BFA in drama. She currently lives in the rural community of New Freedom, Pennsylvania
New Freedom, Pennsylvania
New Freedom is a borough in York County, Pennsylvania. As of the 2010 census, the borough had a population of 4,464.-Geography:New Freedom is located at ....
.
Background
Robin Spielberg recorded her first album of original pianoPiano
The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
solos in 1993 entitled Heal of the Hand. The CD, recorded on borrowed funds, caught on quickly with Spielberg's listeners in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
piano rooms
Piano bar
A piano bar consists of a piano or electronic keyboard played by a professional musician, located in a cocktail lounge, bar, hotel lobby, office building lobby, restaurant, or on a cruise ship. Usually the pianist receives a small salary plus tips in a jar or basket on or near the piano,...
and hotel lobbies.The album was picked up by the indie label North Star Music in 1994 and went on to become the label's best-selling album in their ten-year history. Spielberg signed a six-record deal with North Star Music and recorded two albums per year for the next three years before founding her own label, playMountain Music in 2000. Robin Spielberg has recorded sixteen CDs and appears on over fifty compilations. She is one of America's premiere female composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
/pianists and has an active tour schedule.
Robin Spielberg comes from a musical family. Her paternal grandfather, Rubin Spielberg was a flutist who performed with the NBC Symphony Orchestra
NBC Symphony Orchestra
The NBC Symphony Orchestra was a radio orchestra established by David Sarnoff of the National Broadcasting Company especially for conductor Arturo Toscanini...
and the Metropolitan Opera
Metropolitan Opera
The Metropolitan Opera is an opera company, located in New York City. Originally founded in 1880, the company gave its first performance on October 22, 1883. The company is operated by the non-profit Metropolitan Opera Association, with Peter Gelb as general manager...
.Her great uncle Herman Spielberg, was a member of the first violin section of the NBC Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Arturo Toscanini
Arturo Toscanini
Arturo Toscanini was an Italian conductor. One of the most acclaimed musicians of the late 19th and 20th century, he was renowned for his intensity, his perfectionism, his ear for orchestral detail and sonority, and his photographic memory...
. Other Spielberg family members were musicians and music instructors in their home country of Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
. Robin Spielberg's love of music began at an early age. She picked up melodies easily on the family electric Magnus Chord Organ
Magnus Harmonica Corporation
The Magnus Harmonica Corporation was founded in 1944 in Linden, New Jersey. The company sold and distributed children's harmonicas and mechanical reed organs. Later, Magnus introduced its electric chord organs, which were in production until the late 1970s...
and by age five could play more than fifty songs. She began formal piano lessons at age eight.
Robin attended Stagedoor Manor
Stagedoor Manor
Stagedoor Manor is a performing arts summer camp located in Loch Sheldrake, New York. Over the past 36 years, it has trained thousands of young actors, many of whom have gone on to success in film, television, and theatre....
and Phillips Academy
Phillips Academy
Phillips Academy is a selective, co-educational independent boarding high school for boarding and day students in grades 9–12, along with a post-graduate year...
Andover to study acting as a teen. Leading roles at Michigan State University
Michigan State University
Michigan State University is a public research university in East Lansing, Michigan, USA. Founded in 1855, it was the pioneer land-grant institution and served as a model for future land-grant colleges in the United States under the 1862 Morrill Act.MSU pioneered the studies of packaging,...
and New York University followed including Anne in the Diary of Anne Frank, Golden Boy, Night Music. After participating in a summer acting program led by William H. Macy
William H. Macy
William Hall Macy, Jr. is an American actor and writer. He was nominated for an Academy Award for his role as Jerry Lundegaard in Fargo. He is also a teacher and director in theater, film and television. His film career has been built mostly on his appearances in small, independent films, though...
and David Mamet
David Mamet
David Alan Mamet is an American playwright, essayist, screenwriter and film director.Best known as a playwright, Mamet won a Pulitzer Prize and received a Tony nomination for Glengarry Glen Ross . He also received a Tony nomination for Speed-the-Plow . As a screenwriter, he received Oscar...
, she and her classmates formed the Atlantic Theater Company
Atlantic Theater Company
Atlantic Theater Company is an Off-Broadway non-profit theater, whose mission is to produce great plays "simply and truthfully utilizing an artistic ensemble." The company was founded in 1985 by David Mamet, William H. Macy, and 30 of their acting students from New York University, inspired by the...
, an ensemble-based theater company. Robin Spielberg acted dozens of plays with the company including Boys' Life and The Lights by Howard Korder
Howard Korder
Howard Korder is an American screenwriter and playwright. He is the author of the 1988 coming-of-age play Boy's Life, which earned him a Pulitzer Prize for Drama nomination. His play Search and Destroy was adapted into a film in 1995. Among the screenplays he has written are The Passion of Ayn...
at Lincoln Center. Robin Spielberg graduated NYU with high honors and a BFA in Undergraduate Drama. She went on to compose music for several of the Atlantic Theater Company's productions including Three Sisters
Three Sisters (play)
Three Sisters is a play by Russian author and playwright Anton Chekhov, perhaps partially inspired by the situation of the three Brontë sisters, but most probably by the three Zimmermann sisters in Perm...
, directed by William H. Macy and adapted by David Mamet] The Poet and the Rent and The Revenge of the Space Pandas, two children's plays by David Mamet performed on National Public Radio (NPR). In 1992 Robin Spielberg and Barry Shulak co-wrote a musical for young audiences entitled Balloonland. It was produced in Vermont by the Atlantic Theater Company and debuted in New York off-broadway at the Atlantic theater Company in 1993.
Spielberg was also an inaugural member of the Independent Music Awards'
The Independent Music Awards
The Independent Music Awards is an international program that honors top-ranked independent artists and releases in more than 50 Album, Song, Music Video and Design categories....
judging panel to support independent artists.
Career highlights and major accomplishments
Robin Spielberg was added to the Steinway Artist Roster in 1996. She is a national celebrity Artist Spokesperson for the American Music TherapyMusic therapy
Music therapy is an allied health profession and one of the expressive therapies, consisting of an interpersonal process in which a trained music therapist uses music and all of its facets—physical, emotional, mental, social, aesthetic, and spiritual—to help clients to improve or maintain their...
Association. As Spokesperson, Robin Spielberg often conducts seminars and workshops on the transformative power of music in hospitals, schools and community centers while on tour. She has toured from coast to coast from New York to California, from Florida to Maine and everywhere in between. Performance highlights include three sold-out performances at the Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, United States, located at 881 Seventh Avenue, occupying the east stretch of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street and West 57th Street, two blocks south of Central Park....
(New York City), and a month-long tour through rural Montana.
Robin Spielberg's music is popular with Asian audiences. She has toured through South Korea three times appearing at KBS Hall
KBS Hall
KBS Hall is a part of the Korean Broadcasting System headquarters, located in Yeouido, Seoul, South Korea.- Taped programs :*Open Concert*KBS Symphony Orchestra concerts*Blue Dragon Film Awards*KBS Music Festival- External links :*...
, Seoul Arts Center
Seoul Arts Center
The Seoul Arts Center, literally the Hall of Arts, is a cultural center in Seocho-gu, the southern area of Seoul, South Korea.Measuring in 12,0350 m², it consists of many different halls and centers for many diverse art forms. It began construction in 1984, and opened all its doors in 1993...
and the LG Arts Center (2010). She is signed with Sony/ATV Music Publishing
Sony/ATV Music Publishing
Sony/ATV Music Publishing is a music publishing company co-owned by The Michael Jackson Family Trust and Sony. The organisation was originally founded as Associated TeleVision in 1955 by Lew Grade. In 1957, ATV acquired Pye Records as a wholly owned subsidiary...
in Asia. Robin's famous encore piece, An Improvisation on the Canon in D
Canon in D
Pachelbel's Canon is the most famous piece of music by German Baroque composer Johann Pachelbel. It was originally scored for three violins and basso continuo and paired with a gigue in the same key. Like most other works by Pachelbel and other pre-1700 composers, the Canon remained forgotten for...
is part of the hit Korean drama Winter Sonata
Winter Sonata
Winter Sonata is a South Korean television drama series broadcast by KBS in 2002. It is the second part of the Endless Love installment directed by Yoon Seok-Ho...
. The series was released on DVD in November 2010 in Japan.
Discography
- Heal of the Hand 1993
- Spirit of the Holidays 1994
- Unchained Melodies 1995
- In the Heart of Winter 1995
- Songs of the Spirit 1996
- In the Arms of the Wind 1997
- Mother 1999
- Beautiful Dreamer 2000
- Dreaming of Summer 2000
- The Christmas Collection 2002
- American Chanukah 2002
- With a Song in My Heart 2004
- Memories of Utopia 2005
- Spa Piano 2007
- A New Kind of Love 2008
- Sea to Shining Sea: A Tapestry of American Music 2010