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Dr. Jemmie Robertson

Dr. Jemmie Robertson

Trombone, Euphonium

Office: 1513 - Doudna Fine Arts Center
Phone: 217-581-6118
Email: jrobertson@eiu.edu


Jemmie Robertson's Vita

Jemmie Robertson is Assistant Professor of Trombone and Euphonium at Eastern Illinois University where he performs actively with the Eastern Faculty Brass Quintet. Jemmie studied at Northwestern University with Michael Mulcahy, Randy Hawes and Charlie Vernon; Yale University with John Swallow and Scott Hartman; the University of Northern Colorado with Buddy Baker; and at Alessi Seminars in New York and Italy with Joseph Alessi. Additionally, Jemmie studied extensively with Milt Stevens while in the U.S. Air Force Heritage of America Band. Prior to his appointment at EIU he taught at Augustana College and conducted the Trombone Choir at Northwestern University, including in their appearance at the 2004 International Trombone Festival in Ithaca, New York.
Jemmie is an active soloist, recitalist, chamber and symphonic musician, and teacher. He is a busy performing musician in the Chicago area where he has performed with numerous ensembles including the Chicago Chamber Musicians, Music of the Baroque, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Chicago Philharmonic, Chicagoland Pops, Illinois Philharmonic, Elgin Symphony, Rockford Symphony, Northwest Indiana Symphony, South Bend Symphony, Kenosha Symphony, Quad Cities Symphony, Civic Orchestra of Chicago, Peoria Symphony, Tower Brass, Gaudette Brass, Prairie Ensemble, Champaign/Urbana Symphony, and others.
Jemmie is devoted to exploring the continually expanding expressive possibilities of the trombone. His debut solo CD, titled “A New Day Dawning” was released on the MSR Classics Label (MS 1182) in September 2008. The recording features recent and previously unrecorded works for trombone and piano, including the world premiere recordings of works by James Thornton and Ken Kreuzer, and the American premiere recording of J. F. Michel’s In Memoriam.  In October 2012, Jemmie premiered two significant chamber works by David Sampson:  Powell Trio for Tenor Trombone, Marimba and Piano, and Just Keep Moving for Bass Trombone, Horn, Marimba and Piano. Jemmie has also premiered works for trombone by James Thornton and Chris Teichler, and participated in the premiere of John Cheetham’s A3 with the Eastern Brass Trio. In February 2007 Jemmie was honored to participate in the World Premiere performances of Pulitzer Prize winning composer John Harbison’s Umbrian Landscape with Saint with the Chicago Chamber Musicians.
Dr. Robertson has previously been a member of the Virginia Symphony Orchestra (2000) and the U.S. Air Force Heritage of America Band (1996-1999) with whom he also performed extensively on Euphonium and Bass Trombone. 
In the summers he enjoys performing with the Breckenridge Music Festival Orchestra in Breckenridge, Colorado where he also performs actively with the Breckenridge Brass Trio. In the 2008, he appeared as a soloist performing the Albrechtsberger Alto Trombone Concerto. In 2006, Dr. Robertson completed a DM degree in performance at Northwestern University where he studied with Chicago Symphony Orchestra trombonist Michael Mulcahy. While in residence, he conducted the Northwestern Trombone Choir, served as Assistant Conductor of the Northwestern Brass Choir, was honored to be selected to perform as a member of the  Civic Orchestra of Chicago Trombone Quartet (where he coached with Jay Friedman) and as a member of Musicorps, the educational arm of the Civic Orchestra.
 
Honors include being selected as a featured soloist and participant for the first Joseph Alessi Seminar in 1999 and then again at the 2006 Alessi Seminar in Fossano, Italy. In 1995, Mr. Robertson was the winner of the Rocky Mountain Concerto Competition. In the summer of 2000 he performed with the National Orchestral Institute where he worked extensively with the principal trombonists of the Boston, Baltimore, and National Symphony Orchestras. In 2004, Jemmie conducted and performed with the Northwestern Trombones at the International Trombone Festival in Ithaca, New York. In March 2008 Jemmie performed the Bourgeois Trombone Concerto with the Augustana Symphonic Band, directed by Dr. James Lambrecht, on their Midwest tour. In June 2008, Jemmie performed with the Cramer Memorial Trombone choir at the International Trombone Festival in Salt Lake City, Utah and joined that ensemble in performing with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir on the nationally broadcast program “Music and The Spoken Word”. In June 2009, Jemmie performed and participated in the Gene Pokorny Low Brass Seminar in Redlands, CA.
In 2013, Jemmie will return as Principal Trombone of the Santo Domingo Festival Orchestra, and in the summer will return for his twelfth season as a trombonist with the Breckenridge Music Festival Orchestra. This year he is honored to perform and present and conduct at the International Trombone Festival in Columbus Georgia, where the EIU CrossBones have been invited as performers. He will also perform at the Midwest Regional Tuba Euphonium Conference in Bloomington, Illinois, the Harvey Phillips Northwest in Missoula Montana, and at the Eastern Trombone Workshop. Jemmie recently performed at the 2013 Big Twelve Trombone Workshop in Lubbock, Texas, and presented at the 2013 IMEC clinic in Peoria, Illinois.
Jemmie is an Edwards Performing Artist and Clinician.
 

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