Robert Hanford

Robert Hanford has been concertmaster of the Lyric Opera Orchestra since the 2004|05 season. The American violinist serves in the same capacity during the summer at the Aspen Music Festival. Previously Hanford was associate principal second violinist of the Minnesota Orchestra and a member of both the Milwaukee Symphony and Chicago’s Grant Park Symphony. He has appeared as soloist on many occasions with the Minnesota Orchestra, the Milwaukee Symphony, and other Midwestern orchestras, including the Chicago Philharmonic. Hanford attended Northwestern University and is currently on the faculty there as a violin instructor. He graduated with first prize from the Orpheus Conservatory in Athens, Greece. For many summers he was concertmaster and violin instructor at the Birch Creek Music Festival in Wisconsin. He has also performed and taught at the Apollo, the MidAmerica, the Milwaukee, and the Roycroft Chamber Music Festivals. In addition to his professional career as a violinist, Hanford has studied and performed on the theremin, one of the first electronic instruments. He is also an amateur artist blacksmith, having attended courses of study in Wyoming and Illinois. Robert Hanford is the Mrs. R. Robert Funderburg Concertmaster Endowed Chair.

Last updated: December 2, 2018