We were lucky to catch up with Rob Opitz recently and have shared our conversation below.

Rob, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Can you open up about a risk you’ve taken – what it was like taking that risk, why you took the risk and how it turned out?

My life has been full of risks, but mostly after the age of 40. I was in a stable public school teaching career for 17 years. Then I took a risk by leaving public schools to be a college marching band director. Then I moved over into the director of bands position. In 2017, I left teaching as a full-time gig, and became a Realtor, where I have had some great success. In the middle of that, I have kept performing and teaching the entire time. And when I was 44, I also started the Atlanta Latin Jazz Orchestra after seeing the Dizzy Gillespie All Star Big Band in NYC. All of these are risks, and without the family and friend support that I have had, I would not be where I am.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

That would depend on which part of my career we’re talking about. If we are talking about being a bandleader with ALJO, that was something that was already in my wheelhouse from my years of teaching bands at all levels. If we are talking about being a trumpet player, I started when I was 9 in my hometown in Central Illinois. Made it to college near Chicago, where I was active on the music scene, and then moved to Atlanta. For the first several years, my focus was on teaching, but as I got older, I was reminded regularly of the love I have for performing at a high level. My consistency on my instrument, even when I was primarily a teacher was critical to my current standing in the musical community.

If we are talking about Real Estate, that’s a completely different conversation.

In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?

In my opinion, this starts with musicians supporting each other. This is a two-pronged concept. First, the American Federation of Musicians needs to be a force within the musical community so that we are not undercutting one another in desperation for gigs. Secondly, the musicians themselves need to be consistent with their quality of performance, so that the demands being made on the community (financially) are easily justified.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

When I was at Reinhardt University, I was hoping to be the Permanent Director of Bands. I was in that role as an interim due to some legal troubles by the preceding director. I moved into that role as a favor to the University, on the promise that I would have my previous position of Athletic Band Director to go back to. In 2016, I was informed that I would not be a candidate for the permanent position. This was in February of that year. In January, my mother in law was found dead unexpectedly. In April of that same year, my mother died of metastatic breast cancer. In June, my wife’s best friend had a stroke and passed away. And a few months after that, one of her colleagues died of cancer. 2016 was not a good year. But, with the support of friends and family, I made it through it. We have to be there to support one another.

Contact Info:

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