Today we’d like to introduce you to Robin Spielberg

Hi Robin, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?

My childhood was filled with music. As a very young girl, I enjoyed lessons in piano, violin, organ and ballet. My sister and I would take turns accompanying our parents singing in the living room after dinner. I honestly thought all families did this! We listened to LPs in the living room together as a family. My grandfather and great uncle were both musicians who played for The Metropolitan Opera House orchestra, The Cleveland Symphony and for The NBC Symphony Orchestra (under the direction of Toscanini.) While I was proficient at piano, I fell in love with the theater in my teens and went to drama camps. I was president of our high school drama club which had over 100 members. We were a very active club. I went to college at Michigan State, but I felt pulled back east and after my sophomore year I auditioned for NYU’s drama department. I ended up graduating NYU with a BFA in drama. While in NYC I co-founded the Atlantic Theater Company in NYC with my classmates (Atlantic is close to its 40th anniversary and has done plays like Spring Awakening and Kimberly Akimbo on Broadway.) I worked steadily as a pianist in Manhattan’s finest piano rooms and hotel lobbies, and on occasion as an actor, appearing in dozens of plays off Broadway. I was born with a good memory for music, and being able to memorize tunes quickly helped me become very successful in these rooms; I was steadily employed for years while paying off my NYU debt. Roles came and went, but the piano jobs were steady.

In the early 1990s, I transitioned from performing popular standards and classical pieces to composing and performing my own original music. I released my debut album of original piano solos, “Heal of the Hand,” in 1993 independently. It garnered positive reviews and grabbed the attention of an indie record label in New England called North Star Music. They signed me to a 6-record deal. The success of this album led me to more opportunities to record and release music. I composed a children’s musical called “Balloonland,” which premiered in Vermont and later ran in New York City at the Atlantic Theater Company. It was the first musical Atlantic produced for youth audiences.

Over the years I began to collaborate with other musicians and artists across different genres and began composing music for theater productions, documentaries, and special projects.

I’ve tried to stay openly public about my personal experiences and how they have influenced my music, and I think this has created a special connection with my fans. After the premature birth of our daughter, I began to advocate for music therapy. I did a deep dive into how music can affect our physical and mental health. I became a National Artist Spokesperson for the American Music Therapy Association in 2001. This eventually led to a TEDx Talk on the transformative power of music as well as many keynotes on the topic of Music and Mental Health.

I consider my latest recording, my 24th, to be the “crowning glory” of my career. It is an album of fully orchestrated works entitled “By Way of the Wind.” The album was recorded both stateside and in Budapest, Hungary with some of the finest musicians in the world. During the pandemic, arranger and orchestrator Louis Anthony deLise and I collaborated daily on the project. The album is thematic, and musically chronicles how we are pushed and pulled through life by unseen forces (like the wind.) I am so very proud of it and happy to see that it not only charted on Billboard’s Classical Crossover charts for a few weeks, but has garnished a number of awards. We premiered the symphony (with me as soloist) in Texas last November.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?

Despite how my resumé reads, the road for an artist is never smooth. After a few years in the music business, one learns that that is a gap between how things feel and how they look to others. My career started before social media became popular. So now it is common to see posts of artists on tour, behind the scenes and in the studio. These portrayals are often glossy and glamorous. What is rarely portrayed is the isolation and loneliness of life on the road, the number of rejections we receive from venues and media gatekeepers, and the competitive nature of the music business. This being said, I am most proud of my resiliency and my ability to grow through the challenges. This is also the reason why the “By Way of the Wind” album is so meaningful to me; the album celebrates the resiliency of the human spirit. Every one of us will be faced with challenges in life. Sometimes we are lucky enough to glide on breeze, or have the wind at our backs–but often we face headwinds. It is moving through these with grace that defines our character.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?

During the pandemic when touring was impossible, my husband and I learned how use livestream equipment and began livestreaming a weekly show we call “Robin’s Piano Bar.” We had no idea what we were doing, but we learned along the way. We started the program so that I could reach music lovers who were unable to see live concerts due to the pandemic, and to keep ourselves busy, practiced and artistically challenged. When the pandemic ended, we continued the broadcast as we have connected with thousands of music lovers around the world and created a very lovely community who not only post comments during the show, but chat with one another! To date we have done over 245 livestreams. I have never repeated a set. Each week we choose a theme and I play music based on that theme (“movie night,” “love songs” “songs about rain, ” “songs about Summer,” “Broadway Night” etc.) Larry Kosson (my husband and business partner) helps me choose the theme and music on Monday/Tuesday. Then I learn the tunes, arrange them, practice them on Wed/Thursday and we go live for 90 minutes every Friday night that I am not on tour on Facebook, Youtube, TwitchTV, LinkedIn and Bandcamp. A lot of musicians pivoted to livestreams during the pandemic, but I don’t know of any who are still doing them this consistently! It’s a lot of work, but we love it and it also feels like a service to those who can’t get to a concert hall. My mother recently passed away, and she was in her late 80’s. She, like many elderly people, watched these piano bar concerts on replay over the weekend. It makes me happy knowing people are enjoying them.

What does success mean to you?

The metrics for success in the music business is typically based on numbers: how many albums sold, how many people attended a concert, how many awards are won, radio and Billboard rankings. And while these metrics certainly impress people, personally I have found them to not be nearly as important as creating meaningful connections through music. Whenever someone tells me that my music helped get them through a rough time, or that my music was their ‘go-to’ while in chemotherapy or while studying for exams, my heart is full. People have walked down the aisle to my music, celebrated life cycle events, used it as the first dance at their wedding or in a “music and memory” program for seniors suffering from dementia. For me, these types of connections are everything.

Pricing:

• 15 for CDs
• 42.50 By Way of the Wind limited edition luxury boxed package
• $2-$35 piano songbooks
• $30-$40 vinyl
• $20 Robin’s memoir, “Naked on the Bench: My Adventures in Pianoland”

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.robinspielberg.com
• Instagram: @robinspielberg.real
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/robinspielbergmusic
• Twitter: @robinspielberg
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/robinspielberg
• Other: www.robinspielberg.bandcamp.com

Image Credits

Larry Kosson