Biography
"Within four bars, I recognize that a formidable, seasoned artist is at work...”—Gramophone
“First-rate playing, expressive and assured." —American Record Guide
“Exciting, personal, always meaningful…” —Nordbayerischer Kurier (Germany)
"Dignity and a sense of scale...a developing sense of narrative..." —Piano Professional (UK)
Concert pianist Kevin Robert Orr fulfills a broad agenda as performer, masterclass clinician, lecturer and adjudicator that has taken him to major music institutions across the North America, Europe, East Asia, and Australia.
A University of Florida Research Foundation Professor, Orr's live performances and CD recordings have earned critical acclaim across the globe. His recordings of the complete Solo Piano Sonatas and Ballades of Johannes Brahms, as well as the Piano Concerto and solo works of Samuel Barber, have been universally praised in the major music publications of North America and Europe. A strong advocate of new music, Orr has premiered and recorded solo and ensemble works by numerous living composers. His performances have been heard on Public Radio throughout the United States and on BBC London.
Orr is the founding director of The University of Florida International Piano Festival, an annual summer event assembling gifted young pianists with distinguished pedagogues from around the world. Additionally, Orr has taught at the Val Tidone International Festival Summer Camp, Piacenza, Italy, Cadenza Music Festival, Bankok, Thailand, and has been a faculty member of the Masterclasses Ars Haliaeti, held each summer in Koper-Isola, Slovenia.
As Director of the School of Music, Orr oversees a diverse program of 450 music majors, undergraduate through doctorate, and fifty-five faculty and staff members. He is charged with cultivating a consensus vision and appropriating resources for all aspects of the program, including faculty and staff recruitment and professional development, student recruitment and research, curricular development, and the program’s significant agenda of scholarly and creative research activity. Among notable achievements as director, Orr has overseen the creation of groundbreaking undergraduate and graduate degree programs, expanded undergraduate and graduate enrollment, appointed thirty-four new full-time faculty and staff members, and has been instrumental in fundraising success, generating several new endowments and achieving thus far over 80% of funding for a $65 million music building campaign.
Dr. Orr studied at the Cleveland Institute of Music at Case Western Reserve University, and at The Dana School of Music at Youngstown State University. He was the recipient of the William Kurzban Prize in Piano from the Cleveland Institute, and the Aurora Ragiani Martin Piano Award from The Dana School. Orr's teachers have included Paul Schenly, Robert Elliot Hopkins, Caroline Oltmanns, Melva Huebert, and Doris Arnold-Cunningham. With graduate degrees in performance, Dr. Orr also holds an undergraduate degree in Music Education.
A Steinway Artist, Kevin Robert Orr records for Meyer Media, LLC. His recordings are available at Meyer-Media.com, and through iTunes, Amazon and Rhapsody.