Biography
Jemmie Robertson performs extensively nationally and internationally as a soloist, orchestral, and chamber musician. Dr. Robertson enjoys championing new repertoire and exploring the continuously expanding expressive possibilities of the trombone while sharing the wealth of great music associated with the instrument from the 15th century to the present. Jemmie has appeared throughout the United States on many prestigious stages including Carnegie Hall, Orchestra Hall in Chicago, Powell Symphony Hall in St. Louis, and Ozawa Hall at Tanglewood. As a teacher Jemmie enjoys collaborating with young musicians and helping them to develop their own artistic voices and musical goals. Jemmie’s students have gone on to attain posts in U.S. military bands (Pershing’s Own U.S. Army Band, et. al.), professional symphony orchestras, numerous collegiate and k-12 teaching positions, and successfully auditioned for scholarships at prestigious graduate schools (Indiana, Eastman, Yale), summer festivals (Southeast Trombone Symposium, Tanglewood, Pacific Music Festival, et. al.) and training orchestras (such as the Civic Orchestra of Chicago). The UF Trombone Studio has recently been invited to perform at the International Trombone Festival (2022, Arkansas; 2021, Georgia; 2020, Osaka ,Japan) and at the 2020 American Trombone Workshop. Members of the UF Trombone Studio have also recently performed at Trombonanza (Santa Fe, Argentina), D.C. Trombone Workshop, Disney All-American College Band, and the Colorado College Music Festival, among others.
Jemmie joined the faculty at the University of Florida in 2018 where he is currently Associate Professor of Trombone. Jemmie performs with the University of Florida Faculty Brass Quintet and as Principal Trombone of the Gainesville Orchestra. Jemmie is an active and in-demand orchestral musician throughout Florida, where he performs regularly with the Florida Orchestra, Jacksonville Symphony, Sarasota Orchestra, and the Naples Philharmonic.
Recent international performances include the Conservatorio de Música, Universidad Mayor, Santiago, Chile (September 2023 and August 2022); Trombonanza in Santa Fe, Argentina (August 2023); Urubrass Festival in Uruguay (Jan. 2023); Alessi Seminar in Fossano, Italy (April 2022); Osaka, Hamamatsu, and Fukuoka, Japan (July 2019); L'église de la Madeleine, Paris, France (July 2019); Les Anches d'Azur Music Festival in La Croix- Valmer, France (June 2019); Paraíba Trombonist Association Trombone Festival in João Pessoa, Paraiba, Brazil (May 2019); and the Lille Trombone Festival, Lille, France (April 2019)
In 2023, Jemmie performed by invitation in the United States at the Southeast Trombone Symposium and in a full recital at the International Trombone Festival in Salt Lake City, Utah in July 2023 with the Brews Brothers Duo.
In 2022, Jemmie released his latest solo album, Red Dragonfly, on Mark Custom Recording Label and appeared as a soloist in a consortium premiere of Amy Mill’s Red Dragonfly Concerto with the Gainesville Orchestra. Also, in 2022 Jemmie performed Rimsky Korsakov’s Concerto with the UF Symphony Orchestra, the Bourgeois Trombone Concerto with the UF Brass Band, and presented a full recital at the International Trombone Festival, Conway, Arkansas, with Jasmin Arakawa, piano. At the 2021 International Trombone Festival he performed with the Cramer Choir and was featured on a faculty showcase recital with UF colleague Laura Ellis on James Eversole’s Esquisses for Trombone and Organ
Jemmie performed in the summers as a member of the Breckenridge Music Festival Orchestra in Breckenridge, Colorado from 2000 to 2019. In 2019 he returned as Principal Trombone and appeared as a soloist in Robert Starer’s Concerto a Tre at the Vail Dance Festival in a collaboration between Breck Music and the Martha Graham Dance Ensemble. In 2018, Jemmie performed the Albinoni Concerto, Op. 9, No. 2, as a soloist with the Breck Music Fest and at previous BMF festivals appeared as a soloist on numerous occasions there in repertoire by Albrechtsberger, Grondahl, Milhaud and others. At the 2018 International Trombone Festival he performed the world premieres of Mark Rheaume’s Trombone Concerto and John Cheetham’s Variations on a Chorale Brahms Chorale.
In the Spring and Summer of 2018, Jemmie performed with the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra for 12 weeks as assistant principal/ 2nd trombone. Repertoire included the world premiere performances of the opera An American Soldier by Huang Ruo, Verdi’s La Traviata, and many other Masterworks and Pops programs including Maestro David Robertson’s Farewell Gala Performances. Jemmie has also performed extensively with Lyric Opera of Chicago, Music of the Baroque, Chicago Chamber Musicians, Chicago Civic Orchestra, Opera Theater of St. Louis, National Repertory Orchestra, Quad Cities Symphony, Peoria Symphony, and many other ensembles, including as Principal Trombone of the Santo Domingo Festival Orchestra in the Dominican Republic (2011-2015).
Jemmie studied at Northwestern University (DM 2006) with Michael Mulcahy, Randy Hawes and Charlie Vernon; Yale University (MM 2003) with Scott Hartman and John Swallow; the University of Northern Colorado (BM 1997) with Buddy Baker, and in Billings, MT with his father James D. Robertson who taught at MSU-B and performed with the Billings and Bozeman Symphonies. Jemmie has three additional published solo CDs: Collaborations (2017), Conditions of a Solitary Bird(2014), and A New Day Dawning (2008) of which the ITA Journal wrote in a July 2018 review: “expertly interpreted and performed with personality, charm, and precision.” and “Jemmie Robertson is not just an accomplished trombonist, but a true artist of the instrument who has taken the time to craft his artistic vision of each piece.”
Before pursuing graduate studies, Jemmie was a member of the Virginia Symphony Orchestra (2000) and the USAF Heritage of America Band (1996-1999). After completing his doctorate from Northwestern, Dr. Robertson taught on the faculty at Augustana College in Rock Island, IL from 2005-2010. Dr. Robertson actively presents and performs at festivals and conferences with numerous appearances at the International Trombone Festival, American Trombone Workshop, Big Twelve Trombone Workshop, Southeast Trombone Symposium, Wright State Trombone Day, and Illinois Music Educators Conference. Jemmie organizes and hosts the annual UF BrassFest, which was most recently held Feb. 3rd-5th, 2023. Jemmie also founded MT2EC, the Midwest Trombone Tuba Euphonium Conference which has been hosted annually at EIU since 2014. Stateside, he recently completed recital tours to Mississippi in September 2021, Montana in September 2019, and Oklahoma, Texas, and New Mexico in January 2019. Jemmie is a founding member of the American Trombone Quartet who released Premiere!, in 2020 on the Mark Custom Recording Label.
Jemmie is an Edwards tenor and bass trombone performing artist and clinician and performs on the T-396A “Alessi” tenor trombone with Rotax rotor and Harmonic Bridge and the B-454E bass trombone with independent Axial Flow valves. More information about the University of Florida School of Music, Trombone Studio, and degree programs is available at: https://arts.ufl.edu/academics/music/