A committed pianist and teacher, John Noel Roberts has been appointed to music faculties both nationally and internationally. Formerly Artist in Residence and Head of music at the Western Australian Conservatorium of Music of the Edith Cowan University, Roberts has also served on the music faculties at Furman University, South Carolina; the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Mercer University, Georgia; Stephen F. Austin State University, Texas; and Concordia College, Minnesota. Roberts presently serves on the adjunct piano faculty at Our Lady of the Lake University in San Antonio.
Roberts has appeared as guest soloist with ensembles as the Houston Symphony Orchestra, Penang Festival Orchestra, Western Australian Symphony Orchestra, Charlotte Philharmonia Orchestra, Lima Ohio Symphony Orchestra, and the Macon Symphony Orchestra. Recently, he has performed on Friends of Alec Wilder Society concerts in New York City and has presented solo and collaborative recitals in Minnesota and Texas.
Albany Records has released two compact discs of Roberts performing the relatively unknown works of Alec Wilder titled Alec Wilder, Music for Piano and Pas Seul, Alec Wilder, Music for Piano. ACA Digital Recordings produced the following releases: Frederic Chopin: Poetry at the Piano; Quest: Piano Works by Sister Mary Elaine Gentemann; and The Complete Piano Sonatas of Johannes Brahms. Atlanta Audio Society’s reviews of his Chopin and Brahms ACA recordings state that “his Chopin Third Sonata captures all the poetry, the variety and the pure depth of feeling that the composer invested in this work” and “Roberts’ strongly characterized performances strike just the right note. They are robust without losing any of the vital details in the music of Brahms.”
A native of Texas, Roberts pursued undergraduate studies at the Eastman School of Music of the University of Rochester, where he was a student of Eugene List and Barry Snyder and was awarded the Performer’s Certificate in Piano. He continued graduate studies at the Yale University School of Music, where he earned the Doctor of Musical Arts degree. At Yale, he studied with Claude Frank and Ward Davenny and won the Sprague Hall Competition. Precollege piano studies were in the preparatory music program at Our Lady of the Lake University with Sister Mary Elaine Gentemann, C.D.P. He is a member of Phi Kappa Phi and Pi Kappa Lambda honorary societies and is a Steinway Artist.