Founding Artistic Director

Rob moved to Virginia in August, 2011, to work as Organist and Director of Music at Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church in Newport News. Prior to his appointment at Trinity, Rob served United Methodist and Evangelical Lutheran churches in Indiana for twelve years. In 2012, he began serving Jewish congregations as well. Soon after, he was appointed Director of Music at Congregation Emet V'Or in Newport News, where he served for nearly seven years.

 

Late in 2019, Rob moved to Concord, North Carolina, to serve as Interim Organist and Director of Music at St. James Lutheran Church. In September 2020, Rob began serving St. Theresa Catholic Church (Austin, Texas) as organist. He was appointed Associate Director of Music Ministries in January of 2021. Now settled (permanently!) in Montgomery Village, he is the Director of Music at Darnestown Presbyterian Church.

 

During his years in Virginia, Rob performed regularly with fully professional ensembles, including the Schola Cantorum of the Cathedral of the Sacred Heart (Richmond). Between 2014 and 2018, he performed with The Virginia Chorale; previously he sang in the professional core of the Virginia Symphony Orchestra Chorus. Rob has sung under many notable conductors, including Robert Nance, William Jon Gray, JoAnn Falletta, Charles Woodward, and, most recently, Daniel Sañez.

 

Rob is happiest when bringing extraordinary musical opportunities to community musicians, including serving two womens’ choruses as Artistic Director. During the 500th anniversary of the Lutheran Reformation in 2017, he created a year-long series of ten performances that rivaled anniversary observances anywhere in the world. The culminating event, before an audience of over seven hundred, was a performance of Brahms’s Ein Deutsches Requiem.

 

In a previous musical life as a trombonist, Rob toured the United States with Star of Indiana's Brass Theater, performing alongside the Canadian Brass in sold-out venues including Tanglewood, Lincoln Center, Wolf Trap, Ravinia, and the Hollywood Bowl.

 

For several years he was an instructor with Christopher Newport University's LifeLong Learning Society (Newport News, Virginia), leading courses on Bach, Beethoven, Brahms, Mendelssohn Bartholdy, Mozart, and Wagner's Ring Cycle, among others.

 

When not practicing at the keyboard or preparing choral scores, Rob is beautifying Maryland homes with his home inspection and renovation company, CRK Home Services, LLC. In his free time, he’s often working in the kitchen with his wife, Dani. Their lovable black cat Herb is likely perched nearby to monitor the cooking, but his older sisters Sage and Saffron prefer the view out the window.