Dr Robert Szymanek
A Life in Music.
Performer. Composer. Teacher. Researcher.
Music is a core part of my life.
I'm a real music enthusiast, and love exploring it from all angles: as a performer, composer, producer, researcher, teacher, coach, and general music nerd!
I’ve been lucky to work across many different styles, stages, and settings, driven by this deep curiosity, and eagerness to learn and grow as a musician. ​
The adventure continues. I try to bring my love, enthusiasm and curiosity into everything I do.
I am indebted to my teachers and mentors. A special mention to Howard Milner, Simon Cook, Henry Stobart, Jeffery Wilson, Tara Cutland Green, and Desney Harrington.
Performance
​I’ve played piano, Indonesian gamelan, and sung with a wide range of ensembles.
Performance highlights for me include: London's LSO St Luke's as part of my LSO Soundhub Composer's residency, for which I produced a staged performance of music in collaboration with film artists and set designers. I have also performed and hosted at WOMAD Festival, and later Cadogan Hall with Kyai Fatahillah Gamelan Ensemble. I played at London's SouthBank Centre as part of their 50th Anniversary celebrations, and travelled to Indonesia for a piano-gamelan collaboration at the University of Education, Bandung.
I work to bring these diverse experiences into my everyday piano practice and teaching.
If there's one thing I've learnt, it's that there's so many different ways to create, play and think about music. Each time we play a piece, it's an opportunity to discover something new. We can be creative and make things personal - even the classics. Even sight-reading! And scales!
That touch of individuality and spontaneity is part of what makes music so meaningful and special.
Composition and Recording
I have been composing almost as long as I have played and performed.
My music draws from multiple genres — classical, experimental, popular, folk, music from around the world — always shaped by a deep interest in emotional expression and sonic storytelling.
I studied Composition to PhD level at the Royal Academy of Music, gratefully receiving a Charles Lucas Prize for Composition and a shortlisting for a BBC Composers Award. I was also awarded the Academy's Manson Fellowship for my composition work.
My orchestral, chamber and choral music has been performed by ensembles including The BBC Singers, musicians from the London Symphony Orchestra, and acclaimed soloists such as Vasko Vasiliev, Aisha Orazbayeva, and Jennifer Torrence. My pieces have also featured in concerts and festivals in London, USA, Japan and Dubai. It's been an absolute delight and a thrill. I've put some YouTube links of some of my pieces for you to watch below.
I’ve also released two albums of my own songs as Ok Bertie!, funded by a Deutsche Bank Award for Creative Enterprise: Music from a Crowded Planet (2017) and We're Done For (and Other Responses) (2020).
These albums are definitely my babies! They mix together all my interests and needed a lot of nurturing. They also created a space to write lyrics about the things that matter to me. All the songs have at least a nod to the natural world, and what it means to be human at this time on this very special planet.
The artwork for both albums is also my own, depictions of the Earth made out of hundred of circles.
Musicology
My keenness to explore music is reflected in my studies in musicology.
I have a MMus Masters in Advanced Musical Studies, Royal Holloway, University of London, where my focus was on ethnomusicology – the study of how and why people use music in their lives; the political, social, psychological, cultural aspects of music-making. It really opened my eyes - and ears - and taught me (yet again!) how magical, important and necessary music is to us.
After graduating, I worked with Prof. Gary Ansdell of Nordoff and Robbins on a Community Music Therapy research project. This resulted in his book Musical Pathways in Recovery. I also integrated fieldwork research as part of my PhD, travelling to South America to understand local ideas of music and ecology.
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I try to bring the rich perspectives I've learnt from others into my teaching and coaching, helping students connect musical technique with historical, cultural, and emotional context.
It's about making music feel alive, relevant and human.
Teaching Focus
For over 15 years, I’ve focused on music teaching and coaching. It's incredibly rewarding and very creative work.
I've taught music at university level, in conservatoires, workshops, and private settings, including courses, programs and workshops with the Royal Academy of Music, University of Manchester, LSO Discovery and WOMAD Festival.
I aim to bring a warm, creative, and structured approach to teaching, tailored to each individual student, and equipping them with the skills to play great and feel good as they're doing it!
