Robert Everson

In his debut performance as a soloist, Robert Everson was hailed by the Chicago Tribune as “a most outstanding performer,” the Chicago Sun Times has called him a “Master Timpanist” and the Chicago Classical Review said of a recent performance with the Chicago Philharmonic: “Spectacular timpani playing”. Although soloing on the timpani is relatively rare, he has done so many times, playing Darius Milhaud’s Concerto for Percussion and Orchestra with the Chicago Sinfonietta, the Chicago String Ensemble, and the Illinois Philharmonic. With the Sinfonietta, he has also performed Georg Druschetzky’s Concerto for Oboe and Eight Timpani, Russell Peck’s Harmonic Rhythm, and the world premiere of Jiri Gemrot’s Concertino for Flute, Bagpipes and Timpani. He has performed the Phillip Glass Concert Fantasy for Two Timpanists with the San Francisco Ballet. Most recently he has performed Michael Daugherty’s Timpani Concerto “Raise the Roof” with the Chicago Philharmonic.

Bobby performs with several orchestras in the Chicago area, including the Chicago Philharmonic, the Elgin Symphony, the Ravinia Festival Orchestra, the Lake Forest Symphony, the Chicago Sinfonietta, the Joffrey Ballet, and many touring ballets companies when they perform in the Chicago area, and the Midwest Mozart Festival. He has also performed as an extra with the Lyric Opera of Chicago, the Grant Park Symphony and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and has performed on Chicago Symphony recordings under Bernard Haitink and Pierre Boulez, one recording winning the Grammy award for best orchestral performance in 2001. He has played with hundreds of pop artists, and for many Broadway shows, commercial jingles and TV broadcasts.

Mr. Everson earned his Bachelor and master's degrees in Percussion Performance from DePaul University and is the percussion instructor at Concordia University Chicago in River Forest, IL and at the Birch Creek Music Performance Camp in Door County, WI. He performs solo in-school percussion demonstrations for the International Music Foundation of Chicago. He also participates in the educational outreach Seed Program with the Chicago Sinfonietta and the Academy of Music Performance with the Chicago Philharmonic. He is a life-long resident of the Chicago area with his wife Ellen and their son Ian, a singer, songwriter, and music producer now living in Los Angeles.