Classique
Timothy Roberts
American Saxophonist Timothy Roberts, a native of Richardson, Texas, currently serves as Professor of Saxophone and Chair of the Instrumental Division at Shenandoah Conservatory in Winchester, VA. He retired as Principal Saxophonist and National Tour Soloist with the United States Navy Band in Washington, DC, where he was also Coordinator of the Navy Band’s International Saxophone Symposium.
As one of the Navy Band’s premier concert soloists, Roberts performed for five U.S. Presidents, many foreign dignitaries, and hundreds of thousands of people throughout all 48 states and around the world from 1987-2011. Continuing his strong and heartfelt passion for the medium of saxophone and wind band at Shenandoah after his Navy Band career, Roberts has either premiered or artistically advised the creation of new concerti by composers Jim Stephenson, John Mackey, John Heins and Carter Pann.
The Washington Post described his Kennedy Center performance of Jacque Ibert's Concertino da Camera with the National Symphony Orchestra as "simply stunning." A concerto performance with the Navy Band in Quebec City was reviewed by Le Soliel as "the audience enjoyed the fluid technique, lightness of tone, and impeccable playing of saxophonist Timothy Roberts." In two separate solo appearances with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, the Dallas Morning News noted, “Tim Roberts poured forth the creamiest, most gorgeous sounds ever heard from a saxophone, and phrased eloquently besides", and “the especially deft, lovingly played saxophone lent his own magic”.
Roberts makes frequent appearances with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra performing in Dallas, on European festival tours, and on numerous recordings for the Dorian, Delos, and Hyperion compact disc labels.
He was chosen as one of four international concerto soloists featured at the World Saxophone Congresses in St Andrews, Scotland (2012), Bangkok, Thailand (2009), and Montreal, Canada (2000), along with the North American Saxophone Alliance Conferences in Vancouver, British Columbia, and Iowa City, Iowa. He also performed at saxophone congresses in Zagreb, Croatia; Strasbourg, France; Ljubljana, Slovenia; and Columbia, South Carolina.
As a commercial artist, Roberts has performed with Ray Charles, Bernadette Peters, Gladys Knight, Richard Hayman, Eartha Kitt, Patti Lupone, Crystal Gayle, Olivia Newton-John, Martin Short, John Williams, Tommy Tune, and Marvin Hamlisch, among others.
Most recently perform at the Clarisax Festival in Medellin, Colombia, and a concerto appearance at Mahidol University in Bangkok, along with invitations to teach at the Conservatoire National Superieur de Musique et de danse in Paris, the Conservatorio Superior de Música de Aragón (CSMA, Zaragoza, Spain), the Conservatori Superior de Música del Liceu (Barcelona), the Conservatoire de Strasbourg (France), Arizona State University, the University of Florida, the U.S. Navy Band International Saxophone Symposium, the University of South Carolina, the Conservatorio di Musica G. Verdi di Milano (Italy), and the Eastman School of Music, among others.
A strong proponent of music education, Roberts has published over thirty columns for Saxophone Journal. He has developed three popular master classes that have premiered on compact discs included in that magazine: one entitled "Developing a Disciplined Practice Routine", a second that discusses the tenor saxophone music of composer Walter Hartley, and a third that teaches Dorothy Chang's Two Preludes.
He has also served four years as Secretary of the North American Saxophone Alliance.
