Robert Greenleaf Brink (Boston, 30 March 1924 - Boston, 24 October 2014) was an American violinist, conductor, and educator. He was a professor of music at the

New England Conservatory The New England Conservatory of Music (NEC) is a private music school in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the oldest independent music conservatory in the United States and among the most prestigious in the world. The conservatory is located on Hu ...

in Boston, Massachusetts. He performed with the

harpsichord A harpsichord ( it, clavicembalo; french: clavecin; german: Cembalo; es, clavecín; pt, cravo; nl, klavecimbel; pl, klawesyn) is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. This activates a row of levers that turn a trigger mechanism ...

ist

Daniel Pinkham Daniel Rogers Pinkham Jr. (June 5, 1923 – December 18, 2006) was an American composer, organist, and harpsichordist. Early life and education Born in Lynn, Massachusetts, into a prominent family engaged in the manufacture of patent medicines ( ...

and gave the premieres of works by

Walter Piston Walter Hamor Piston, Jr. (January 20, 1894 – November 12, 1976), was an American composer of classical music, music theorist, and professor of music at Harvard University. Life Piston was born in Rockland, Maine at 15 Ocean Street to Walter Ha ...

Henry Cowell Henry Dixon Cowell (; March 11, 1897 – December 10, 1965) was an American composer, writer, pianist, publisher and teacher. Marchioni, Tonimarie (2012)"Henry Cowell: A Life Stranger Than Fiction" ''The Juilliard Journal''. Retrieved 19 June 202 ...

Alan Hovhaness Alan Hovhaness (; March 8, 1911 – June 21, 2000) was an American-Armenian composer. He was one of the most prolific 20th-century composers, with his official catalog comprising 67 numbered symphonies (surviving manuscripts indicate over 70) and ...

, and Daniel Pinkham. Pinkham composed his 1958

violin concerto A violin concerto is a concerto for solo violin (occasionally, two or more violins) and instrumental ensemble (customarily orchestra). Such works have been written since the Baroque period, when the solo concerto form was first developed, up thro ...

for Brink. He performed in the United States, Canada, and Europe, and played under the conductors

Sergei Koussevitzky Sergei Alexandrovich KoussevitzkyKoussevitzky's original Russian forename is usually transliterated into English as either "Sergei" or "Sergey"; however, he himself adopted the French spelling "Serge", using it in his signature. (SeThe Koussevit ...

Aaron Copland Aaron Copland (, ; November 14, 1900December 2, 1990) was an American composer, composition teacher, writer, and later a conductor of his own and other American music. Copland was referred to by his peers and critics as "the Dean of American Com ...

, and

Darius Milhaud Darius Milhaud (; 4 September 1892 – 22 June 1974) was a French composer, conductor, and teacher. He was a member of Les Six—also known as ''The Group of Six''—and one of the most prolific composers of the 20th century. His compositions ...

. With Daniel Pinkham, Brink co-founded the Cambridge Festival Orchestra in the mid-1950s, serving as that orchestra's

concertmaster The concertmaster (from the German ''Konzertmeister''), first chair (U.S.) or leader (U.K.) is the principal first violin player in an orchestra (or clarinet in a concert band). After the conductor, the concertmaster is the second-most signifi ...

. In 1951 and 1952, Brink and Pinkham performed at Brown University and Wellesley college under the auspices of the

Peabody Mason Concerts Benefactor The name Peabody Mason comes from Miss Fanny Peabody Mason, who until her death in 1948 was an active patron of music both in the United States and abroad. Her musical interests were piano, singing and chamber music. Concert series ...

.''The Townsman'', 24-Jan-1952, "College Corelli concerts notable", Wellesley Brink founded the

Boston Classical Orchestra The Boston Classical Orchestra was a chamber orchestra based in Boston, Massachusetts. It was founded in 1980 by the violinist Robert Brink. The orchestra's music director was Steven Lipsitt. It performed at Faneuil Hall Faneuil Hall ( or ; p ...

and served as its concertmaster until 1995. He founded and conducted the Orchestra for the Art of Music (OAM), which performs music from the Classical period. He lived for many years in

Mattapoisett, Massachusetts Mattapoisett is a town in Plymouth County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 6,508 at the 2020 census. For geographic and demographic information on the village of Mattapoisett Center, please see the article Mattapoisett Center, M ...

References

External links

Robert Brink official site
from New England Conservatory site American classical violinists Male classical violinists American male violinists American conductors (music) American male conductors (music) 1924 births People from Mattapoisett, Massachusetts 2014 deaths {{US-violinist-stub