Robert White

Dr. Robert White enjoys an active career as an orchestral, chamber, commercial, and solo musician.  He is a member of the Western Brass Quintet and has spearheaded commissions and recordings as part of that ensemble.  Robert also serves as an artistic consultant and performing member of the Detroit Chamber Winds and Strings.  

Dr. White performs regularly with such ensembles as the Detroit Symphony, Grand Rapids Symphony, and the Michigan Opera Theatre, and has also performed with the Atlanta Symphony and the Cleveland Orchestra.  He has been engaged as guest Principal Trumpet with the Detroit and Grand Rapids Symphonies, both in concert and on recordings, and has appeared at Carnegie Hall with both the Detroit and Milwaukee Symphonies. Dr. White has taught and performed on four continents, including concerts Nairobi, Tokyo, Paris, and Tenerife in the Canary Islands. A versatile artist, he has been fortunate to appear onstage with such musical luminaries as Wayne Shorter, Chick Corea, Boyz-II-Men, Burt Bacharach, The Temptations, and The Who in addition to such conductors as Gerard Schwarz, Leonard Slatkin, Michael Tilson Thomas, Neeme Järvi, Paavo Järvi, Edo deWaart, and Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos. 

Prior to joining the faculty of the WMU School of Music, Dr. White won an international audition for the Charlotte Symphony in North Carolina where he worked for five years.  Robert was an adjunct faculty member at Grand Valley State University from 2012-2014.  He previously also taught at Bowling Green State University, Gardner-Webb University, Indiana State University, University of Indianapolis, DePauw University, and was a Graduate teaching assistant at the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University.  As a member of the Motor City Brass Quintet, Robert was faculty-in-residence at the 2011 Boston University Tanglewood Institute in Lenox, Massachusetts.  From 2006 to 2010, Robert was a faculty member of the Eastern Music Festival in Greensboro, North Carolina where he also performed in the Eastern Music Festival Orchestra and EMF Chamber Players.  

Robert White holds Doctor of Music and Master of Music degrees in Trumpet Performance and Literature from the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University.  He holds a Bachelor of Music Education degree from Western Michigan University.  His primary trumpet teachers are Scott Thornburg, Stephen Burns, and John Rommel.