American saxophonist Timothy Roberts, a native of Richardson, Texas, currently serves as professor of saxophone and chair of the Instrumental Division at Shenandoah Conservatory in Winchester, Virginia. In 2011 he retired as principal saxophonist and national tour soloist with the United States Navy Band in Washington, D.C., where he was also coordinator of the Navy Band’s International Saxophone Symposium. As one of the Navy Band’s premier concert soloists, Roberts performed for five U.S. Presidents, many foreign dignitaries and hundreds of thousands of people throughout all forty-eight states and around the world from 1987 to 2011.
The Washington Post described his Kennedy Center performance of Jacque Ibert's Concertino da Camera with the National Symphony Orchestra as “simply stunning.” A concerto performance with the Navy Band in Quebec City was reviewed by Le Soliel as “the audience enjoyed the fluid technique, lightness of tone, and impeccable playing of saxophonist Timothy Roberts.” In two separate solo appearances with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, the Dallas Morning News noted, “a blue ribbon goes to Tim Roberts, for the most eloquent, gorgeously intoned saxophone solos imaginable,” and “the especially deft, lovingly played saxophone lent his own magic.”
Roberts makes frequent appearances with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra performing in Dallas, on European festival tours and at the Bravo Vail Music Festival, and through numerous community service projects in the Dallas-Ft. Worth area. He was chosen as one of four international concerto soloists featured at the World Saxophone Congresses in St. Andrews, Scotland (2012), Bangkok, Thailand (2009) and Montreal, Canada (2000), along with the North American Saxophone Alliance Conferences in Vancouver, British Columbia (2011), and Iowa City, Iowa (2006). He also performed at recent saxophone congresses in Ljubljana, Slovenia (2006), and Columbia, South Carolina (2008).
As a commercial artist, Roberts has performed with Ray Charles, Bernadette Peters, Gladys Knight, Richard Hayman, Eartha Kitt, Patti Lupone, Crystal Gayle, Olivia Newton-John, Martin Short, John Williams, Tommy Tune and Marvin Hamlisch, among others. Recently he has been invited to perform at the Clarisax Festival in Medellin, Colombia, the International Clarinet/Saxophone Festival in Nanning, China, and the Australian National Band Championship in Hobart, Tasmania, along with invitations to teach at the Paris National Conservatory, the Conservatorio Superior de Música, Zaragoza, Spain, and the Escola Superior de Música de Catalunya (ESMUC) in Barcelona, among others.
A strong proponent of music education, Roberts has published over thirty columns for Saxophone Journal. He has developed three popular masterclasses that have premiered on compact discs included in that magazine: one titled “Developing a Disciplined Practice Routine,” a second that discusses the tenor saxophone music of composer Walter Hartley and a third that teaches Dorothy Chang's Two Preludes. A representative for Conn-Selmer, Selmer Paris, D’Addario Reeds and Lomax Classic mouthpieces, he has also served for four years as secretary of the North American Saxophone Alliance.
Roberts currently makes his home in Winchester, Virginia, with his wife and two children. Visit www.timothy-roberts.com to learn more.