Robert Walker
Principal, The Hanson Family Foundation Chair
Robert Walker, a USC graduate, is overjoyed to return to Southern California as Principal Clarinet of Pacific Symphony. He previously played Second/E-flat Clarinet with the Louisville Orchestra and has held principal posts with the Grant Park Orchestra in Chicago and the Pro Musica Chamber Orchestra of Columbus, OH. Other orchestral work includes appearances with the symphony orchestras of Saint Louis, Cleveland, Nashville, and Sarasota.
As a composer/arranger, Robert has collaborated with "Baby Got Bach" at the Aspen Music Festival, and "One Found Sound" in San Francisco. As an electronic artist, he has collaborated with Ayjay Nils under the nom de guerre Bad Belzig and co-founded a musical collective that curated live shows in New York City. As an audio engineer, he is employed by the Ariel Concert Series in Saint Louis, MO, with whom he also performs.
Before becoming a full-time musician, Robert held down a series of jobs that left an indelible mark on his perspective of life as a professional musician and the role of the arts in America more broadly. This includes 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 personal contributions toward increasing the reach and relevance of symphonic music in contemporary culture.
An accomplishment of his that puts these principles into practice was his work with the Louisville Orchestra's "Creator Corps." As the orchestra's sole rank-and-file representative on the hiring committee, Robert helped review hundreds of resumes for the class of creators that would ultimately embed themselves in Louisville to foster collaborative partnerships with underserved artistic communities across the city and state.
Robert's primary teachers include Yehuda Gilad at USC and Alan Kay at The Juilliard School of Music. Other absolutely crucial musical guides along the way include Nathan Williams, Burt Hara, Joaquin Valdepenas, and Charles Neidich.
Outside of music, Robert likes to read novels, bike, travel, rewatch prestige TV of the early 2000s, and sing to his cats
As a composer/arranger, Robert has collaborated with "Baby Got Bach" at the Aspen Music Festival, and "One Found Sound" in San Francisco. As an electronic artist, he has collaborated with Ayjay Nils under the nom de guerre Bad Belzig and co-founded a musical collective that curated live shows in New York City. As an audio engineer, he is employed by the Ariel Concert Series in Saint Louis, MO, with whom he also performs.
Before becoming a full-time musician, Robert held down a series of jobs that left an indelible mark on his perspective of life as a professional musician and the role of the arts in America more broadly. This includes 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 personal contributions toward increasing the reach and relevance of symphonic music in contemporary culture.
An accomplishment of his that puts these principles into practice was his work with the Louisville Orchestra's "Creator Corps." As the orchestra's sole rank-and-file representative on the hiring committee, Robert helped review hundreds of resumes for the class of creators that would ultimately embed themselves in Louisville to foster collaborative partnerships with underserved artistic communities across the city and state.
Robert's primary teachers include Yehuda Gilad at USC and Alan Kay at The Juilliard School of Music. Other absolutely crucial musical guides along the way include Nathan Williams, Burt Hara, Joaquin Valdepenas, and Charles Neidich.
Outside of music, Robert likes to read novels, bike, travel, rewatch prestige TV of the early 2000s, and sing to his cats
