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All Music Guide:
Born into a musical family, Robin Spielberg began piano lessons at the age of seven; she also played organ and violin while a child. She attended Michigan State University and New York University, working extensively in each school's theater department. After graduation, Spielberg began playing professionally, often at hotels in the New York area. That job naturally grew into a vehicle for her original compositions and later, a recording career. She has released Heal of the Hand, Spirit of the Holidays, Unchained Melodies and In the Heart of Winter; Songs of the Spirit appeared in 1996.
Wikipedia:
Robin Spielberg (born 1962) is an American pianist who was born in New Jersey. Raised in the suburban town of Maplewood, she is a Columbia High School alumni. She attended Michigan State University and later Tisch School of the Arts at New York University where she graduated with high honors and a BFA in drama. She currently lives in the rural community of New Freedom, Pennsylvania.
Background
Robin Spielberg recorded her first album of original piano solos in 1993 entitled Heal of the Hand. The CD, recorded on borrowed funds, caught on quickly with Spielberg's listeners in New York City piano rooms and hotel lobbies.The album was picked up by the indie label North Star Music in 1994 and went on to become the label's best-selling album in their ten-year history. Spielberg signed a six-record deal with North Star Music and recorded two albums per year for the next three years before founding her own label, playMountain Music in 2000. Robin Spielberg has recorded sixteen CDs and appears on over fifty compilations. She is one of America's premiere female composer/pianists and has an active tour schedule.
Robin Spielberg comes from a musical family. Her paternal grandfather, Rubin Spielberg was a flutist who performed with the NBC Symphony Orchestra and the Metropolitan Opera.Her great uncle Herman Spielberg, was a member of the first violin section of the NBC Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Arturo Toscanini. Other Spielberg family members were musicians and music instructors in their home country of Russia. Robin Spielberg's love of music began at an early age. She picked up melodies easily on the family electric Magnus Chord Organ and by age five could play more than fifty songs. She began formal piano lessons at age eight.
Robin attended Stagedoor Manor and Phillips Academy Andover to study acting as a teen. Leading roles at Michigan State University and New York University followed including Anne in the Diary of Anne Frank, Golden Boy, Night Music. After participating in a summer acting program led by William H. Macy and David Mamet, she and her classmates formed the Atlantic Theater Company, an ensemble-based theater company. Robin Spielberg acted dozens of plays with the company including Boys' Life and The Lights by Howard Korder at Lincoln Center. Robin Spielberg graduated NYU with high honors and a BFA in Undergraduate Drama. She went on to compose music for several of the Atlantic Theater Company's productions including Three Sisters, directed by William H. Macy and adapted by David Mamet] The Poet and the Rent and The Revenge of the Space Pandas, two children's plays by David Mamet performed on National Public Radio (NPR). In 1992 Robin Spielberg and Barry Shulak co-wrote a musical for young audiences entitled Balloonland. It was produced in Vermont by the Atlantic Theater Company and debuted in New York off-broadway at the Atlantic theater Company in 1993.
Spielberg was also an inaugural member of the Independent Music Awards' judging panel to support independent artists.
Career highlights and major accomplishments
Robin Spielberg was added to the Steinway Artist Roster in 1996. She is a national celebrity Artist Spokesperson for the American Music Therapy Association. As Spokesperson, Robin Spielberg often conducts seminars and workshops on the transformative power of music in hospitals, schools and community centers while on tour. She has toured from coast to coast from New York to California, from Florida to Maine and everywhere in between. Performance highlights include three sold-out performances at the Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall (New York City), and a month-long tour through rural Montana. Robin Spielberg's music is popular with Asian audiences. She has toured through South Korea three times appearing at KBS Hall, Seoul Arts Center and the LG Arts Center (2010). She is signed with Sony/ATV Music Publishing in Asia. Robin's famous encore piece, An Improvisation on the Canon in D is part of the hit Korean drama Winter Sonata. The series was released on DVD in November 2010 in Japan.
