Biography

Recording

Recording credits span film, television, advertising and library music, with sessions at Abbey Road Studios, Angel Studios, Sphere Studios, Soundtree Music and Bell Studios. Clients and broadcasters include BBC Films, BBC Television and Radio, CBC, RAI (Radio Italy), Origin Pictures, Miramax, MGM and Sony. Film and television credits include Downton Abbey and Woman in Gold, along with numerous library music tracks for television and film. His humble beginnings included a SaskPower commercial about energy saving lightbulbs, followed by work for Nike (Winning in a Winter Wonderland, for Hyperwarm) and Stella Artois. Album credits include Shari Chaskin’s At War With Love, Darcy Stamp’s It Doesn’t Have to, but it Might, Esteban Herrera’s Colibri de Papel, Gisela Romero’s Mexicana and Tina Hartt’s The Absence of You. Production and library music and remote sessions for international clients, and tracks for Canadian and international artists, are recorded from his home studio and from recording studios in Calgary.

Orchestra

Orchestral work includes freelance symphony, chamber and opera orchestras at numerous UK festivals and on recording sessions, where he has played in bass sections alongside members of the London Philharmonic, Royal Philharmonic and London Symphony orchestras. He has also played with the Tenerife Symphony Orchestra in Spain and the Regina Symphony Orchestra in Canada.

Theatre

West End credits include The Phantom of the Opera, Chicago, Avenue Q, The Wizard of Oz, Kiss Me, Kate, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Urinetown, The Secret Garden, Sinatra, Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, A Damsel in Distress, The Last Tango and After Miss Julie. UK tours include Mary Poppins (Disney/Cameron Mackintosh) and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. In Calgary, he has played in And the World Goes ’Round, A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder, Footloose, Cabaret, Beehive, Sister Act, 9 to 5: The Musical, Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, The Soul of Motown, Mamma Mia! and Jersey Boys.

Other live performance

In London, jazz, cabaret and pop work includes Des O’Connor, Noel McCalla (Manfred Mann) and the British Philharmonic Orchestra Big Band, as well as accompanying visiting Broadway cabaret artists including Liz and Ann Hampton Callaway. In Calgary, he has performed with Shari Chaskin, Tina Hartt, Darcy Stamp, and plays Cuban son, salsa, bachata and cumbia on Baby Bass and electric bass with Klave Latin Band and Distrito Salsa and others.

Training

Studies at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama in London led to an MMus in Performance (Double Bass) and a Postgraduate Diploma in Orchestral Training, with Thomas Martin. Further double bass studies were with John Van Lierop at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama (now the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland) with whom a long mentorship and friendship has developed as he continues to study with John remotely. Rob also holds a Bachelor of Music Education from the University of Regina, where he studied trumpet.

Teaching

A qualified teacher, he teaches junior high band in Calgary and works as a guest conductor and music festival adjudicator. Earlier posts include double bass and instrumental music at Uppingham School, double bass at the University of Regina Conservatory, and supply teaching in London.