Biography

Brass Legend, Virtuoso Soloist, World Renown Teacher… These are just a few catch phrases associated with Roger Bobo. He is in demand world wide as a teacher of all brass instruments, adjudicator at major international competitions, and as a conductor.

Roger Bobo currently resides in Japan and teaches at the Musashino School of Music in Tokyo. Prior to this move to Tokyo he served as faculty at the Fiesole School of Music near Florence, Italy, at the Lausanne Conservatory in Switzerland, and at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, England.

Orchestras around the world have seen Roger Bobo as soloist, conductor and coach for brass sections preparing major symphonic repertoire. His students currently occupy positions in major symphony orchestras and universities throughout the world, and several have gone on to develop successful solo careers of their own.

As a conductor, Roger Bobo has a strong background playing for and studying the rehearsal and conducting technique of the greatest conductors in the world. During his twenty-five years with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, he had close associations with Zubin Mehta, Carlo Maria Giulini and Andre Previn, not to mention the many world class guest conductors of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. A list of orchestras that have seen Roger Bobo as soloist, conductor or teacher would fill volumes. His career has covered as many continents as it has decades.

Complete listings of Roger Bobo’s solo recordings as well as commercial recordings with the Los Angeles Philharmonic are available on this site. Keep an eye out for future listings of film scores that feature Roger Bobo.

Please take advantage of the many other resources on this site to learn more about Brass Legend, Roger Bobo. New information and features of this site are under development. Check back often for more information.

Øystein Baadsvik is the only tuba virtuoso to have carved out a career exclusively as a soloist, rather than becoming a member of an orchestra or accepting a teaching post. His multi-faceted musical career as a soloist, chamber musician, lecturer and recording artist has taken him all over the world. The unique virtuosity and musicality Mr. Baadsvik's brings to the tuba has established him as the exemplar of the instrument.

He studied under the celebrated tuba player Harvey Phillips, Distinguished Professor meritus, Department of Music, Indiana University and with the legendary Arnold Jacobs, who had a forty-year career and position of Principal Tuba with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Øystein Baadsvik's international career began in 1991 when he was awarded two prizes at the prestigious Concours International d'Exécution Musicale in Geneva.

His international engagements include performances with orchestras such as the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, Bergen Philharmonic, Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra, the Taipei National Symphony Orchestra, Singapore Philharmonic, and the Orchestra Victoria of Melbourne. Baadsvik has performed in some of the most famous venues in the world and 2006 made his New York recital debut at Carnegie Hall.

He works constantly to expand the musical aspects of the tuba and has premiered some forty solo works by composers from the USA, Russia, Sweden, Norway and Switzerland. In this ongoing process he has developed new tuba-playing techniques that have been used in a number of more recent works for the instrument.

Baadsvik is an active recording artist whose CDs receive unstinting praise.During the last two years he reached a major breakthrough in Japan, where his CDs ranked second in sales recordings for all wind instruments. In their review of "Tuba Works", American Record Guide said, "This spectacular recording establishes Baadsvik as one of the best solo tubists in the world." In praise of "Tuba Carnival", The Daily Telegraph, U.K said, "...his capacity for lyricism in a recording that emancipates the tuba from its Cinderella role with ear-catching panache. Baadsvik shows that anything a violin can do, a tuba can do too."

Roland Szentpáli, born 1977 in Nyíregyháza (Hungary).Roland began playing the euphonium at the age of twelve, moving on to the tuba in the following year under the guidance of Sandor Lukács. He was a student at the Béla Bartok Academy in Budapest from 1991-1995, studying with Joseph Baszinka and Gábor Adamik.Roland continued his studies with Lászlò Szabò at the F. Liszt Academy. On the international scene, Roland has attended courses held by Roger Bobo, Mel Culbertson, Manfred Hoppert, and Sam Pilafian and has been the recipient of numerous scholarships for study abroad.Among his numerous successes in solo competitions, the most notable are his first prizes at the Lahti International Brass Competition in Finland (2001), the International Performer's Competition in Brno, Czech Republic (2000), and the International Tuba Competition in Cheju, Korea (2000). He was also awarded second prize at the prestigious Markneukirchen International Tuba Competition in 2000, and has also been a prize winner at other competitions, including TubaMania (Australia, 1999), Geubwiller International Tuba Competition (France, 1998).Roland is also very active as a composer, having written many works for tuba, chamber ensemble and orchestra in a broad variety of styles. In February of 1994, he performed his own Concerto for Tuba and Orchestra in Budapest for live television broadcast. His music has been played and recorded by the Hungarian Radio Orchestra and the Orchestra Hungarian Music Academy Bela Bartok. His last solo CD "I Killed my Lips" includes four of his own compositions.Apart from his busy solo and composition schedule, Roland does freelance tuba work and plays in the National Radio and Television Youth Orchestra of Hungary.Always being in great demand he also gave several masterclasses in the United States, Japan and many European countries.