Jeff Robinson

Office

About

Jeff Robinson (bassoonist) is a native of the San Francisco Bay Area.  After over twenty years with the Houston Symphony and a decade of freelance work in New York City, Jeff re-located with his family to Berkeley in 2019 where his wife Ellen accepted a faculty appointment at CAL. 

Mr. Robinson plays principal bassoon with Chautauqua Symphony and teaches for their school of music in the summer months and recently joined the Faculty at Sonoma State in Northern CA. He has held teaching appointments at University of Houston and Texas Music Festival and has given classes at Juilliard, Manhattan School, Ohio State, Colburn School and Yale University.  While freelancing in NY, he played regularly with NY Philharmonic, the MET Orchestra, St. Lukes and NYC Ballet Orchestras.  California musical adventures include work with the San Francisco Symphony, Ballet and Contemporary Chamber Ensemble, Oakland, Modesto, San Jose, Monterey Symphonies.

A student of Rufus Olivier and Steve Paulson in high school and post-college, Jeff earned a Bachelor of Music from the Eastman School studying with K. David Van Hoesen.  A truly horrible golfer, Jeff prefers hiking, biking and cooking and makes mountains of bassoon reeds from foraged CA cane.