Robert Schubert
Robert Schubert is a Melbourne clarinettist and woodwind lecturer whose playing centres on chamber music and new works written for him.
Robert Schubert graduated from the Victorian College of the Arts in 1982, having studied with Isobel Carter-Stockigt and Phillip Miechel (Principal Clarinet, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra). From 1983 to 1985 he continued clarinet studies in Canada and the United States with James Campbell at the Royal Conservatory of Music, Toronto, with James Morton (Principal Clarinet, National Arts Orchestra of Canada), and with Larry Combs (Principal Clarinet, Chicago Symphony Orchestra).
In 1988 Hiroyuki Iwaki appointed him Principal Clarinet of Orchestra Ensemble Kanazawa in Japan, a post he held until returning to Australia in 1996. In those years he also appeared as guest clarinet with the NHK Orchestra in Tokyo and as guest principal with the Hiroshima Symphony Orchestra, and he was often soloist with Orchestra Ensemble Kanazawa. He recorded with that ensemble for Deutsche Grammophon, Victor and Sony.
In Melbourne he has performed with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and Orchestra Victoria, and has appeared at the Melbourne International Festival and in live ABC broadcasts. Mark Pollard, Julian Yu, Chan Hae Lee, Tetsuya Nishibe and Peter Tahourdin have all written works for him, many recorded and broadcast by ABC Classic FM. His Move recordings include the Julian Yu clarinet surveys China Wind (MD 3351), Old and Yu (MD 3424) and Bach to China with Yu (MD 3474). Since 1996 he has been Lecturer in Woodwind at the Victorian College of the Arts, now the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music at the University of Melbourne. In 2017 he formed Trio Varie with cellist Virginia Kable and pianist Akemi Schubert.
Robert Schubert is featured on the following titles
Bach to China with Yu
Volume 3 of Julian Yu’s clarinet music, with Robert Schubert and ensemble in arrangements that join Chinese folk melody to Western classical craft.
China Wind: the clarinet music of Julian Yu, Vol. 1
Five chamber and concertante works for clarinet with strings, piano and flute show Julian Yu drawing on the inner structures of Chinese tradition rather than its surface colour, with remarkable versatility and emotional range.
A Handful of Rain
Inspired by Javanese gamelan and Japanese Shinto music, Mark Clement Pollard's ambient concert works pursue beauty and simplicity. A Handful of Rain gathers this acclaimed Australian composer's popular style from the mid-1990s.
Robert Schubert is featured on the following titles
Old and Yu: The Clarinet Music of Julian Yu, Vol. 2
Catchy short pieces by Julian Yu for clarinet with string quartet, and with cello and piano: playful settings that braid Chinese folksong with oddly familiar classical themes, including Dvořák and Mozart.
Robert Schubert also appears on
Move 50
Twenty-four Australian composers mark Move Records’ fiftieth year with short new works gathered on this commemorative disc.
Elegy: Reflections on the music of Peter Tahourdin
A companion to the Australian composer's other Move CD Exposé, this album showcases solo pieces for cello and flute, electronic scores, and small ensemble works.
Ambient Voice
Ambient Voice places Dean Frenkel’s haunting harmonic vocals over and within works by outstanding Australian composers, among them Mark Clement Pollard, George Dreyfus, Andrew MacGregor and Invention in Time.
Robert Schubert is a member of
Trio Varie
Clarinettist Robert Schubert formed Trio Varie with cellist Virginia Kable and his wife, pianist Akemi Schubert in 2017.