Joining Heather and Tamara for Episode 1 is violinist Rob John.

Over the course of a 47 year career Rob has been fortunate to have worked as an orchestral violinist, soloist, chamber musician, recording artist, conductor, composer, producer, orchestrator, arranger and orchestra contractor.

He has been an orchestral leader for Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, the State Orchestra of Victoria and as a guest leader for the Western Australia Symphony, Tasmanian Symphony, Queensland Symphony, Adelaide Symphony, the Australian Opera and Ballet Orchestra, and the Nagoya Philharmonic Orchestra in Japan. He was also the artist-in-Residence at the Victorian Arts Centre from 1989-1998.

Rob has performed as a soloist on numerous occasions in Australia, China and Japan, including as a recording artist, for a wide range of projects in the classical and commercial sides of the music industry.

Commercial tour leaderships have included ‘The Boy From Oz’ ( Hugh Jackman 2006 ), Elton John, Kiri te Kanawa, Placido Domingo, Jimmy Page and Robert Plant, Natalie Cole, and he has lead orchestras for musical productions such as Wicked, Chicago, The Producers ,The Lion King, Les Miserables, The Sound of Music, to name a few.

Through his production company (Independent Music Productions) he and his partner Leah Hooper have organized orchestral based projects including:
The movies “Shine”, “Eye of the Storm”, Jimmy Page and Robert Plant tour (1996), ENZSO tour (1997), Stevie Wonder tour (1997), David Gates tour ( 2003 ), Sarah Brightman tour (2004),

Rod Stewart (2005), Psycho-Live with Orchestra (2010), South Pacific (2013), Tina Arena (2013)
and Love Actually – In Concert (2019-2024), The Princess Bride In Concert and Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon – In Concert (2023).

Rob has appeared as a musician on many icon Australian films and TV programmes including: “Mad Max” 1 + 2, “Careful Hear Might Hear You”, “Clickbait”, “Fires” and “Bosch and Rockit”.

He has composed and produced music for a wide variety of projects including:
The Australian Ballets’ productions of “1914” (sound design) and “Luminous” (NYC 50th anniversary),
22 scores for documentaries (Southern Star TV), “The Melbourne Story (MCG), “Concerto for Whale and Orchestra” (DVD – Symphony of the Wild) and the feature film “Sneezing Baby Panda”. In 2024 he wrote, played and produced the album ‘Human Spirit’ for Fable Music, which was released during that year.

Rob has orchestrated and conducted scores for film and television including “Beneath Hill 60”, “Night”, “Bran Nu Dae”, “The Society Murders” and “The Book of Revelation”. He has also written myriad string arrangements for various recording artists including “The Tea Party”, “TaxiRide”, Sylvi Palladino, Becky Cole and more recently as music director/conductor for the ‘Symphony of Angels’ live concerts and DVD (with the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra). He is currently working with the Australian artists/ singers Tulliah and Tilly V.W. On string tracks for their current albums.

Awards have included an Advance Australia Award (for services to the Australian music industry) and Gold/ Platinum albums in recognition of his work on Elton John Live in Australia with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra .

Rob is privileged to play a JB Vuillaume.

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