Robson handy with baton or bow

LITTLE ROCK — At 26, Geoffrey Robson just had a major uptick in his conducting career.

Robson took over Aug. 28 as associate conductor of the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra, replacing Israel Getzov, who had been with the orchestra since the fall of 2001. (Getzov will stay in the area; he teaches at the University of Central Arkansas and will continue to be the music director of the Conway Symphony).

With Arkansas Symphony Music Director David Itkin becoming a "drop-in" conductor - he has moved to Denton, Texas, where he is director of orchestral studies at the University of North Texas College of Music - Robson will have considerably more conducting duties than his predecessor.

He's on the podium for the orchestra's preliminary rehearsals. He'll be conducting the orchestra's Pops Live! concerts, including this weekend's "Cirque de la Symphonie" shows, and the orchestra's third pair of Masterworks concerts in November, as well as all of the orchestra's "run-out" concerts to various parts of the state. And he is doing the orchestra's radio previews on public station KLRE-FM, 90.5.

Robson is also taking Getzov's position in the Arts Partners, a corps of professional string players who do most of the orchestra's musical outreach programs. And he's taking over the vacant violin spot in the orchestra's Sturgis Quartet, joining Joanna Whang, violin; Tatania Kotcherguina, viola; and William Preece, cello.

"My understanding is that I'm doing considerably more conducting than was given to the associate conductor before, and it's certainly a generous share of programs," Robson says. "So I'm very excited about that.

"This is new ground for me, in terms of the size of the organization. Most of my work in New York conducting has been with a considerably younger organization, established about three years ago, now. But this is definitely a different sort of position for me.

"Previously I had been mostly engaged as a freelance violinist playing in a number of different groups around New York and also in Connecticut, and studying conducting and working with this new group, theChelsea Symphony, and also guest-leading a couple of other groups on a couple of occasions.

"This is a major leap forward, and one that I'm excited about because I [also] get to continue to develop myself as a violinist, which is very important to me at this stage of my career."

He'll be playing in the orchestra when he's not conducting. He'll make his Little Rock debut with the Sturgis Quartet Oct. 21 in the Great Hall of the Clinton Presidential Center, playing Cesar Franck's String Quartet on one half of the program while the orchestra's Rockefeller Quartet will play the String Quartet No. 1, "From My Life," by Bedrich Smetana.

"Most of our educational work is going to be with two different programs, one of which focuses on the work of FranzJosef Haydn, and the other will be primarily American music," Robson says.

Robson holds a fairly freshly minted (2004) master's degree in violin performance from Yale University, where he studied with Erick Friedman, after graduating from the honors college at Michigan State University in 2002. Most recently, he has been studying conducting with David Hayes at Mannes College of Music in New York.

With Itkin leaving the orchestra at the end of the 2009-10 season and the orchestra in the midst of a search for his replacement, Robson will also be involved in holding the orchestra together until a new music director takes over.

Robson admits that being in place during the transition gives him a bit of a leg up for the top job.

"I think the whole search is going to be a very interestingproject, and I'm certainly being given a chance to impress the organization and establish a rapport with the orchestra," he says diplomatically.

"I think I'm certainly an important link there as the conductor who's around the office every day, and doing half the programs. It's a great opportunity for an associate conductor to be so involved. I'm very pleased with the responsibilities I'm being given."