Kevin Robert Orr was appointed Dean of the University of Florida College of the Arts, July 1, 2026, following eleven years as Director of the UF School of Music, 2015-2026. As School Director, Orr led a vast expansion of faculty and staff specializations across multiple new full-time appointments, oversaw the development of innovative undergraduate and graduate degree programs, and coordinated fundraising success exceeding $72 million, including many new scholarship endowments and thus far over 94% of funding for an ongoing $65 million music building campaign.
Outreach initiatives that took shape under Orr’s leadership of the School of Music include the Campus to Community series, presenting student performers within off-campus community venues; The State of the School, an event assembling emeritus and new music professors in research and creative exchange; and Cadenza, an annual donor event showcasing the extraordinary depth and stylistic range of music students and faculty.
Prior to administrative service, Orr enjoyed a fifteen-year career on the University of Florida faculty as a concert pianist and pedagogue, where his research engaged prominent music institutions across North America, Europe, East Asia, and Australia. Former students hold positions in academia and as arts entrepreneurs across the U.S. and abroad. Orr appears on ten commercial recordings, three solo and seven collaborative, including the complete Piano Sonatas and Ballades of Johannes Brahms and the Piano Concerto and solo works of Samuel Barber, garnering the praise of major music periodicals of North America and Europe. A University of Florida Research Foundation Professor, Orr founded The University of Florida International Piano Festival, an important summer event that continues to thrive under new faculty leadership. With a career focused primarily in the classical realm, Orr maintains a far broader range of stylistic interests.
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. Major teachers have included Paul Schenly, Robert Elliot Hopkins, Caroline Oltmanns, Melva Huebert, and Doris Arnold-Cunningham. With graduate degrees in performance, Orr also holds an undergraduate degree in Music Education.
A Steinway Artist, Orr records for Meyer Media, LLC. Recordings are available at Meyer-Media.com, and through iTunes, Amazon and Spotify.