Paul Robertson
For 34 years Professor Paul Robertson performed throughout the world as leader of the internationally renowned Medici String Quartet, of which he was a founder member. They recorded and broadcast prolifically and appeared at International Festivals across four continents. Their eminent discography includes more than 50 recordings, including a highly praised complete Beethoven Quartet cycle for Nimbus records. As a young quartet the Medici established an unrivalled reputation in contemporary music, premiering a host of new works. Many leading composers, including Elizabeth Lutyens, John Taverner, Richard Rodney Bennet, and Maxwell-Davis, dedicated significant compositions to them.
Early on they were taken under the wing of the legendary pianist Sir Clifford Curzon, with whom they performed much of the piano quintet repertoire. It was the extraordinary experience of learning Elgar’s Piano Quintet with Curzon that first sparked Paul’s interest in exploring different ways to share with audiences the process of interpretation as well as the performance. The work with Curzon inspired Paul to initiate a music theatre series with the Royal Shakespeare Company. Over a ten-year period, various composers’ works were psychologically illuminated by dramatic realizations of their lives and times.
Directed by John Caird (Director of Les Miserables and a host of other eminent productions), creative collaborations were established with the principal classical actors of their generation such as John Thor, Sheila Hancock, Derek Jacobi, Tim West, Prunella Scales, Dorothy Tutin, Eleanor Bron, and many others.
Paul’s continuing interest in exploring the implicit meanings of music has taken many forms over the years. For more than 20 years he has worked alongside leading scientists to explore the neurological and scientific basis of music. This work reached a wide public with his highly acclaimed Channel 4 television series “Music and the Mind.”
Along with his busy concert schedule, he is in constant international demand as a speaker and lecturer at medical, scientific, and educational conferences, as well as business colloquia. He is a Cultural Leader in the World Economic Forum, and is in regular conversation with business, media and political leaders.
In 2001 Paul was awarded a fellowship by the National Endowment for Science Technology and the Arts to explore the musical, mathematical, and spiritual foundations of Bach’s work for unaccompanied violin, The Marriage of Heaven and Earth. He was invited to present a programme of talks and lectures as Singapore’s first ‘Artist in Residence’ to inspire their Connected Creative, Singapore initiative. In order to better understand non-notational and improvisational techniques, he initiated immensely successful musical collaborations with Classical Indian master, Wajahat Khan, in his Sarod Quintet (Koch records) and with the famous jazz saxophonist Barbara Thompson, From Berlin to Broadway (Virgin records).
He also created a cross-over disc with legendary record producer George Martin in his superlative Air Studio. This included performances with guitarist John Williams, Johnny Dankworth, and Jack Brymer amongst others.
His collaboration with Ashridge Management College consultant Hugh Pidgeon created a unique programme entitled The Gift, in which the members of the Quartet explored conflict resolution within performance. The Gift was presented at the World Economic Forum, Davos where Paul is a Cultural Leader. His ongoing project, The Pursuit of Perfection, with Ashridge consultants Hugh Pidgeon, develops an area of work Paul considers of particular significance for our contemporary culture. In 2004 he was inaugurated as visiting professor in art and leadership to the Copenhagen Business School and he is also a visiting research fellow to Templeton, Green College, Oxford, where he regularly teaches.
A Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, he is also now visiting professor in music and medicine to the Peninsula Medical School. He is also a member of the European Cultural Parliament and associate of the Royal Society of Medicine.
Paul plays a rare Montagnana violin from Venice dated 1726.
