Robin Spielberg

Robin Spielberg (born 1962) is an American pianist, composer and author. Raised in the suburban town of Maplewood, she attended Michigan State University and later Tisch School of the Arts at New York University. She has released sixteen albums of piano music. She currently lives in New Freedom, Pennsylvania.

Robin Spielberg's paternal grandfather, Rubin Spielberg was a flutist who performed with the NBC Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Arturo Toscanini and the Metropolitan Opera. She began formal piano lessons at the age of seven.

She acted in dozens of plays with the company including Boys' Life and The Lights by Howard Korder at Lincoln Center. She graduated from NYU with high honors and a BFA in Undergraduate Drama. She went on to compose music for several of the Atlantic Theater Company's productions including Three Sisters, directed by William H. Macy and adapted by David Mamet, The Poet and the Rent and The Revenge of the Space Pandas, two children's plays by David Mamet performed on National Public Radio (NPR). In 1992 Spielberg and Barry Shulak co-wrote a musical for young audiences entitled Balloonland. It was produced in Vermont by the Atlantic Theater Company and debuted in New York off-broadway at the Atlantic Theater Company in 1993.

Spielberg recorded her first album of original piano solos in 1993 entitled Heal of the Hand. The album was picked up by the indie label North Star Music in 1994, and she went on to become the label's biggest-selling artist. According to North Star president Richard Waterman, Spielberg sold between 160,000 and 200,000 albums during 1995 and 1996, although SoundScan only registered 1,800 sales, with the bulk of sales through specialist outlets. By 1999 she had reportedly sold 300,000 albums. Spielberg signed a six-record deal with North Star Music and recorded two albums per year for the next three years before founding her own label, playMountain Music, in 2000. Spielberg has recorded sixteen albums and appears on over fifty compilations. Several of her albums have been themed; Her 1994 album Spirit of the Holidays featured Christmas-themed tracks, while her 1999 album Mother was a collaboration with singers Cathie Ryan and Susan McKeown featuring songs celebrating motherhood.

Spielberg was also an inaugural member of the Independent Music Awards' judging panel.

Spielberg was added to the Steinway Artist Roster in 1996. She is a national celebrity artist spokesperson for the American Music Therapy Association. As spokesperson, Spielberg often conducts seminars and workshops on the transformative power of music in hospitals, schools and community centers while on tour. She has also performed fundraisers for medical and other charities. She has toured nationally and overseas. Performance highlights include three sold-out performances at the Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall (New York City).

She has toured South Korea three times appearing at KBS Hall, Seoul Arts Center and the LG Arts Center (2010). She is signed with Sony/ATV Music Publishing in Asia. Spielberg's piece, "An Improvisation on the Canon in D" is part of the hit Korean drama Winter Sonata.

Discography

 * Heal of the Hand (1993)
 * Spirit of the Holidays (1994)
 * Unchained Melodies (1995)
 * In the Heart of Winter (1995)
 * Songs of the Spirit (1996)
 * In the Arms of the Wind (1997)
 * Mother (1999)
 * Beautiful Dreamer (2000)
 * Dreaming of Summer (2000)
 * The Christmas Collection (2002)
 * American Chanukah (2002)
 * With a Song in My Heart (2004)
 * Memories of Utopia (2005)
 * Spa Piano (2007)
 * A New Kind of Love (2008)
 * Sea to Shining Sea: A Tapestry of American Music (2010)