Robert Lewis Blocker, DMA (born September 4, 1946) is an American classical pianist, choral conductor, music educator, and music school executive at the collegiate level, who, for the past twenty-two years (since July 1995), has served as Dean of the Yale School of Music, which since 1958 has been exclusively a graduate professional school.
Video Robert Blocker
Career highlights
Maps Robert Blocker
Education
Blocker earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Furman University in 1968. He earned graduate degrees -- Master of Music in 1970 and Doctor of Musical Arts in 1972 -- from the University of North Texas College of Music, where he studied closely with pianist Richard Brannan Cass (1931-2009), an alumnus of Furman and Juilliard and 1953 Fulbright Scholar to the National School of Music of Paris where he had studied with Nadia Boulanger. In 1986, while serving as dean at Baylor, Blocker was a fellow at the Institute for Educational Management at Harvard in 1986.
Honorary degrees
- 2003 -- Doctor of Music, Converse College
- 1995 -- Master of Arts, Yale University
- 1992 -- Doctor of Humanities, Furman University
Honors & awards
- Elm-Ivy Award, Yale University, April 2008
- Founder's Award, PORTALS, The Hotchkiss School
- President's Citation for Extraordinary Service, University of North Texas, 2005
- Honorary Professor of Piano, Central Conservatory of Music, Beijing, 2004
- Elected Member, The Grolier Club, New York City, a society for bibliophiles, 2003
- Yale Tercentennial Medal recipient, 2001
- Featured in Steinway and Sons film commemorating 300th anniversary of the piano, 2000
- Distinguished Alumni Award, Furman University, 1999
- Order of the Palmetto, 1999 (highest distinction of service awarded by the state of South Carolina)
- Outstanding Professor, Baylor University, 1986
- Artist-in-Residence, South Carolina Governor's School for the Arts & Humanities, 1985
- Teaching Excellence Award Grant, Stephen F. Austin State University, 1980
- Artist Teacher, National Piano Foundation, 1980-1981
- Artist Roster, Texas Commission on the Arts, 1978-1981
- Artist Faculty, Brevard Music Center, 1974-1976
- Outstanding Teacher Award, Brevard College, 1975
- Texas State Doctoral Fellowship, 1970-1972
- Outstanding Doctoral Candidate, University of North Texas College of Music, 1972
- Outstanding Masters Candidate, University of North Texas College of Music, 1970
- Rotary Scholar, 1964-1968
- Presser Scholar, 1964-1968
Selected publications
Selected discography
- Mozart, Piano Concertos Nos. 12, 13, and 14, Naxos Records (2010) OCLC 690227850, 767878821
- Recorded May 14-16, 2007, Morse Recital Hall, Sprague Hall, The School of Music, Yale University
- Blocker, piano; Biava Quartet
- Beethoven, Piano Concerto No. 3, Credia Classics (S. Korea) (2002)
- Recorded live, July 12, 2002, Beethoven Festival, Woosong Arts Center, Daejon, South Korea
- Blocker, piano
- Daejon Philharmonic, Shinik Hahm, conductor
Family & growing up
Blocker is a graduate of the St. Andrews Parish High School, which as since merged with West Ashley High School in the Charleston County School District of South Carolina.
References
External links
- Blocker's personal website
- Bio -- Yale School of Music
- Bio -- Yale School of Management
Source of the article : Wikipedia