Retiring SFO Chorusmaster Robertson Looks Back on 35 Years
/Published: 12/5/2021
It all started back in Angus County, Scotland, with a clanky, old upright piano—a Victorian-style model with candleholders affixed to the front, in case you needed to play by firelight.
Ian Robertson had grown up around music. His father, a publisher in the journalism trade, used to play the violin as a hobby, and his mother sang. The sounds of Scottish folk music—the jigs, reels, and strathspeys—infused his childhood.
But when his parents caught him pretending to the play an imaginary piano at age 5, they realized he needed music lessons. They saved up some money and sent Robertson to learn how to play for real.
“And after that, I never really thought about anything else but music,” Robertson says. It was the first step on a path that would lead him across an ocean, to become director of the San Francisco Opera Chorus.
Now, after 35 seasons, 342 productions, and thousands of individual performances, Robertson is preparing to step down from his role as chorus director. But before he does, he shares a few farewell stories—about his life, his music, and the shenanigans that happen on stage.