Robin Zebaida
PROFILE
Lauded after a Liszt recital by Musical Opinion magazine as 'a pianist of Herculean stamina', Robin Zebaida enjoys a performing career that has taken him to over 100 countries across all continents. Highlights of past seasons have included concerts in USA, Canada (collaborating with conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin), Central America, Europe, the Far East and Australia, where his Sydney recital was reported as achieving 'a warmth and empathy with the audience rarely seen'. In London he has performed at St John's Smith Square and the Queen Elizabeth Hall.
Projects for 2024/25 have so far included solo recitals and chamber concerts in United Kingdom, Poland, Israel, Hong Kong, China, Macau, Philippines, Thailand and Cambodia. The 150th anniversary of the birth of Rachmaninov was commemorated with performances of both his piano trios. In the previous season, Robin Zebaida performed LISZTOMANIA, a programme of Liszt's original solo works and transcriptions. This has so far been performed in Europe, in Shenzhen, China on an 1862 Bechstein loaned for a period to Richard Wagner, and at City Hall Concert Hall in Hong Kong, where he gave a SCHUBERTIADE to a packed audience in 2021. A CD recording of Schubert piano music and song arrangements is due for release soon.
Other recent activities have included Robin Zebaida's debut in China to a capacity audience in the Shenzhen Concert Hall, and in the Shenzhen Piano Music Festivals in 2018 & 2023. Tours to Europe and the Far East have featured special programmes to commemorate the anniversaries of Scriabin, Richard Strauss and Anatol Liadov. He is frequently in demand for lectures, pre-concert talks and masterclasses, and is regularly invited to serve as a jury member on the panels of several regional and international piano competitions, both live and online.
Robin Zebaida's wide ranging and extensive repertoire from Bach to Gershwin also encompasses less familiar fare, as reflected in his CD 'Off the Beaten Track' on the Regent label. Particular areas of interest include Russian music, orchestral and vocal transcriptions, and music for the left hand. In a career which embraces many aspects of music making, he also appears as accompanist, chamber music partner and concerto soloist. His group Classical Cornucopia has performed on several Classical Music themed cruises.
Away from the concert platform, Robin Zebaida's broadcasting experience includes studio recordings and live appearances on radio and television for several national and foreign networks. As a Steinway Artist, he was specially chosen to demonstrate the qualities of the 'Rolls Royce of the piano world' in an interview for the BBC World Service to mark the publication of a history of Steinway pianos.
Robin Zebaida was born and educated in London, England, later winning an Exhibition award to read Music at New College, Oxford, from where he graduated with maximum distinction in performance. He completed his formal studies as a postgraduate at the Royal College of Music.