Robert McDuffie
Bio
Emmy Award-winning and Grammy-nominated violinist Robert McDuffie enjoys a multifaceted international career. He has appeared as soloist with leading orchestras on five continents and collaborated with an eclectic range of artists, including R.E.M. bassist Mike Mills to Rolling Stones pianist Chuck Leavell. McDuffie founded both the Rome Chamber Music Festival in Italy and the Robert McDuffie Center for Strings at Mercer University in Macon, Georgia.
Philip Glass dedicated his Violin Concerto No. 2, The American Four Seasons to McDuffie, who has performed it over 100 times worldwide. Mike Mills composed his Concerto for Violin, Rock Band and Orchestra especially for him. In 2023, McDuffie received an Emmy Award for A Night of Georgia Music, featuring Mills, Leavell, rock band, and the Robert McDuffie Center for Strings Ensemble, airing on PBS.
Upcoming engagements include performances of Glass’s Violin Concerto No. 1 at the Philharmonie de Paris and Auditorium di Milano in 2026, and Carnegie Hall in 2027. Recent highlights include a residency at Tokyo’s Suntory Hall and Sumida Triphony Hall with composer-conductor Joe Hisaishi, performing The American Four Seasons, as well as a U.S. tour of Brahms’s Violin Concerto with the Czech National Symphony Orchestra, including a critically acclaimed performance at Carnegie Hall.
He has appeared as soloist with many of the world’s leading orchestras, including the New York and Los Angeles Philharmonics; the Chicago, San Francisco, National, Atlanta, Houston, Dallas, St. Louis, Montreal, and Toronto Symphonies; the Philadelphia, Cleveland, and Minnesota Orchestras; the London and Czech Philharmonics; Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra; North German Radio Orchestra; Düsseldorf Symphony; Frankfurt Radio Orchestra; Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen; Hamburg Symphony; Bruckner Orchestra Linz; Orchestra del Teatro alla Scala; the Santa Cecilia Orchestra of Rome; Venice Baroque Orchestra; Jerusalem Symphony; Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional de México; Netherlands Radio Philharmonic at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam; and all of the major orchestras of Australia.
His discography includes Icons with pianist Elizabeth Pridgen, featuring sonatas by Glass and Corigliano, and Road Movies by John Adams, along with recordings of concertos by Mendelssohn, Bruch, Adams, Glass, Mills, Barber, Rózsa, Bernstein, and Schuman. He has been featured on NBC’s Today, CBS’s Sunday Morning, The New York Times, and The Wall Street Journal.
McDuffie performs on a 1735 Guarneri del Gesù violin, the “Ladenburg,” owned by a limited partnership formed by him. In recognition of his cultural contributions, he has received Rome’s Premio Simpatia and two official medals from the city and Italian Parliament.
