Robin O’Neill, Basson Solo

Robin O’Neill is principal bassoonist with the Philharmonia Orchestra and has held the same position with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe and the English Chamber Orchestra.
He is a member of London Winds and the Gaudier Ensemble. He has been Professor of Bassoon at the Guildhall School of Music and the Royal Academy of Music where he is currently Visiting Professor of Bassoon. He has recorded virtually the whole of the core chamber music repertoire with more than 40 CDs to his name on labels such as Hyperion, Decca and Philips.

In the past few seasons Robin O’Neill has conducted the Philharmonia Orchestra and Chorus (with whom he gave the Orchestra’s first performance in London’s Royal Festival Hall), London Philharmonic Orchestra, English Chamber Orchestra, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra, Stavanger Symphony Orchestra, Johannesburg Philharmonic Orchestra, Trondheim Symphony Orchestra, Bogota Philharmonic Orchestra, Swedish Chamber Orchestra, Nordic Chamber Orchestra, City of London Sinfonia, Orchestra Ensemble Kanazawa Japan and the Orchestras of the Guildhall School of Music, Royal Academy of Music and the Royal College of Music, where he is professor of conducting.

Robin O’Neill has collaborated with musicians such as Mikhail Pletnev, Boris Beresovsky, Mitsuko Uchida, Christoph Eschenbach, Pascal Rogé, Stephen Kovacevich, Alexander Madzar, Pinchas Zuckerman, Salvatore Accardo, Isabelle Faust, Michael Collins, Alina Ibragimova, and actors such as Jeremy Irons, Julian Glover, Paul McGann and Hugh Dancy. He has also performed by invitation for His Royal Highness Prince Charles the Prince of Wales.

Robin O’Neill is music director of the music theatre ensemble The Motion Group. In 2005 together with theatre director Andrew Steggall he travelled to Baghdad, Iraq, and used their experiences to stage Stravinsky’s The Soldier’s Tale at the Old Vic Theatre in London. This production used both Iraqi and European actors and musicians in what was by common consent one of the most shocking and thought-provoking theatre events of 2006.