ROBERT TOMARO
Music Director
Beloit Jamesville Symphony Orchestra, WI
Principle Guest Conductor
The Grand Pops Orchestra, Dubuque
Robert Tomaro's recent engagements include concerts and recordings with The London Symphony Orchestra, The Slovak Radio Orchestra, The Silesian Philharmonic Orchestra of Poland, The Black Sea Philharmonic of Rumania, The Moravian Philharmonic Orchestra of the Czech Republic and many orchestras throughout the United States. He has toured extensively throughout Scandinavia, England, France, and Eastern Europe.
He was chosen by Maestro Christoph Eschenbach as one of eight conductors in The Christoph Eschenbach International Masterclass with the Crakow Sinfonietta in Crakow, Poland.
Dr. Tomaro is currently Music Director of the Beloit Janesville Symphony in Beloit, Wisconsin. He has produced numerous CD's with the BJSO. Previously, he served as Music Director of the Elysian Symphony Orchestra in New Jersey.
A graduate of Northwestern University and New York University, he received a Masters Degree and a Ph. D. in composition while serving as Music Director of the New York University Symphony Orchestra. He subsequently served on the faculties of St. John's University in New York and Rutgers University in New Jersey. Currently, he is a Professor of Music at Beloit College in Wisconsin, where he holds the Shogren Family Conducting Chair.
Dr. Tomaro is a member of Kappa Delta Pi and Pi Kappa Lambda, the national honor societies in education and music education, a winner of the New Jersey Council on the Arts Fellowship Award for Symphonic Composition and a winner of the New York University Annual Graduate Student Composition Award. In 1991, he was appointed as an Honorary Member of the Board of Directors of the Association Nationale de Musique de Chambre in Paris, France.
In 1996, he was honored by the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences for conducting he recording of the Emmy Award winning score for the Los Angeles Marathon.
In addition to his symphonic conducting career, Dr. Tomaro is a composer jazz guitarist and writer.
He is a recording artist as both composer and conductor for MMC and Capstone Records. His recent CD with The London Symphony (MMC 2085) has just been released to excellent reviews. It features two of his own works as well as his vibrant interpretation of Copland's Symphony No. 3.. In addition to his symphonic compositions, Dr. Tomaro has composed extensively for film, theater, jazz ensemble, ballet and modern dance.
He was recently appointed Editor of Classical Music for Cashbox Magazine, North America and Classical Music Editor and Chief Jazz Critic for Cashbox, U.S.
His articles on music and contemporary composers have been published in The Groves Dictionary of Music in London, The Journal of New Music Research in The Netherlands and several domestic periodicals including The Instrumentalist and Band and Orchestra Magazine.
Dr. Tomaro is a student of legendary Jazz Guitarist and teacher Jack Cecchini. He has performed in concert with such jazz luminaries as Bill Evans, Charles Mingus And Stephane Grapelli. He has also performed in the original Broadway productions of many musicals, including The Lion King, Barnum, Les Miserables, Dancin', Evita, Tommy, and I Love My Wife.
REVIEWS
"Robert Tomaro is committed to creating a synthesis of musical styles (in order) to bring the new generation into the symphony music halls…Promising..top level…sounded excellent."
-David W. Chen, New York Times
"A remarkably fresh performance. Robert Tomaro…a conductor to take very seriously…delivered a solid climax. It was a memorable evening."
- Peter Spencer, Star Ledger
"It was a truly spiritual interpretation offered by Tomaro. The orchestra seemed to rise with him throughout the performance. It was a splendid introduction to the series. Like the Wagner that opened the program, he is stately and refined. Like the Brahms, he is spiritual. Most importantly, he is intensely personal in his relationship with the players. We have a lot more to enjoy under his direction."
-Ron Nief Beloit, Daily News
"Mr. Tomaro is a major conducting talent with an instinctive feel for the musicians in the orchestra."
-Washington Square News, New York
"Under Tomaro's leadership, the orchestra has undertaken new musical challenges. Tomaro's enthusiasm and ability to get the most out of the orchestra have spread to audiences as well. Attracted by works such as Beethoven's Symphony No. 9, Scheherazade, and Mahler's Symphonies No. 2 and 5, attendance at last season's concerts doubled. Challenged by demanding repertoire, the Beloit Janesville Symphony has grown into a first rate orchestra."
-Allegro
"Tomaro is a visionary in appealing to young people and people of different ethnic backgrounds."
-Sally Deering, Jersey Journal
"The American Conductor Robert Tomaro commanded the symphony in what proved to be a virtuosic performance seemingly unending in its imagination and with a firm hand, with which he gave life to the two works in first audition as well as the Symphony No. 3 of Copland…as a conductor, Robert Tomaro succeeded in creating a unique orchestral texture and was able to project a new spirit of thought and concept, generating an ideal interpretation."
-By Eutherpe, Telegraf
"Robert Tomaro…virtuoso..brings a wide variety of instrumental colors…in a nice variety of dynamics…reflections of different cultures of the world molded in a singular statement. The concert was a significant success."
-Radio Split
"Robert Tomaro, a very fine musician, excelled. It was music which broke down barriers of sounds of traditional instruments with new harmonies, dissonances, free rhythms and improvisation."
-Slobna Dalmacija, Split, Yugoslavia
"Let me mention Robert Tomaro. The Hungarian audience had a splendid time listening to the American conductor."
-Hungarian Academy of Arts and Sciences
"Conductor Robert Tomaro is being noticed by the classical music establishment who wish to revitalize the concert hall…Innovative and exciting programs…those who were there are still talking about it."
-Hudson Current
"Tomaro brings a different sensibility to the orchestra, and these CD's show it. The musicians play with more precision, more excitement and, most important, more expression. Tomaro knows it's all about getting the composer's and the musicians' ideas across to the audience, and the BJSO is achieving that more than ever. The second CD shows the BJSO's improvement in a few short months as it tackles Beethoven's Symphony No. 9, and the four soloists and BJSO chorus sing stirringly on it."
-Mary Barber, The Janesville Gazette
"Sims' playing is supple and expressive. She does not sound the least bit intimidated by the notoriously difficult composition. And her confidence seeps into the orchestra, which is playing with more verve."
-Mary Barber, The Janesville Gazette
"An immersion in atmosphere and color permeates just about every bar of this music, from the bright percussion and bold fanfares of Robert Tomaro's Celestial Navigation to the crazed tango of Roger Briggs' Tracer. This disc offers new American music, well recorded and ably performed."
-American Record Guide