Robert Walker
Clarinet
Principal, The Hanson Family Foundation Chair
Robert Walker is a professional musician originally from Queens, NY. Before joining Pacific Symphony, Robert was the tenured 2nd/Eb Clarinetist of the Louisville Orchestra. He has also held principal posts with the Grant Park Orchestra and the Pro Musica Chamber Orchestra. Other orchestral work includes a one-year position with the Saint Louis Symphony as 2nd/Eb Clarinet and appearances with the symphony orchestras of Cleveland, Nashville, and Sarasota.
As an educator, Robert teaches private lessons in Southern California, has served as the Valade Fellow at Interlochen Arts Camp, and collaborated with Orli Shaham on her "Baby Got Bach" series at the Aspen Music Festival. As an administrator, Robert was a panelist for the Louisville Orchestra's groundbreaking "Creator Corps" program.
Before becoming a full-time musician, Robert held down a series of odd-jobs that left an indelible mark on his perspective of life as a professional musician and the relevance of the Arts in America more broadly. These include employment as an elevator operator, an orchestra librarian, an assistant to a Hollywood film composer, a florist, an apprentice groundskeeper, a box office teller, and a social movements archivist. Each of these experiences informs his work ethic, his performances, and—most importantly—his disposition toward increasing the reach and relevance of symphonic music in contemporary culture.
Robert's primary teachers include Yehuda Gilad at USC and Alan Kay at The Juilliard School. Other absolutely crucial musical guides along the way include Nathan Williams, Burt Hara, Joaquin Valdepenas, and Charles Neidich.
His hobbies include score-study, composition, day-dreaming, loafing, writing, sleeping, archiving, reading, biking (when he has time), traveling (the arrival part), rewatching prestige TV of the early 2000s, and singing nonsense to his cats.
As an educator, Robert teaches private lessons in Southern California, has served as the Valade Fellow at Interlochen Arts Camp, and collaborated with Orli Shaham on her "Baby Got Bach" series at the Aspen Music Festival. As an administrator, Robert was a panelist for the Louisville Orchestra's groundbreaking "Creator Corps" program.
Before becoming a full-time musician, Robert held down a series of odd-jobs that left an indelible mark on his perspective of life as a professional musician and the relevance of the Arts in America more broadly. These include employment as an elevator operator, an orchestra librarian, an assistant to a Hollywood film composer, a florist, an apprentice groundskeeper, a box office teller, and a social movements archivist. Each of these experiences informs his work ethic, his performances, and—most importantly—his disposition toward increasing the reach and relevance of symphonic music in contemporary culture.
Robert's primary teachers include Yehuda Gilad at USC and Alan Kay at The Juilliard School. Other absolutely crucial musical guides along the way include Nathan Williams, Burt Hara, Joaquin Valdepenas, and Charles Neidich.
His hobbies include score-study, composition, day-dreaming, loafing, writing, sleeping, archiving, reading, biking (when he has time), traveling (the arrival part), rewatching prestige TV of the early 2000s, and singing nonsense to his cats.