About Dr Michael Robertson
Michael studied the organ with John Railton and Robert Munns before going on to the Royal College of Music. After graduating, he concentrated on the harpsichord, both making and playing them; he also studied with the distinguished Dutch harpsichordist, Gustav Leonhardt. In addition to the Wigmore Hall, he has played at all the South Bank concert halls in London as well as the Barbican centre and St. John’s Smith Square. Most of this work was as a specialist continuo player, but he has also been a member of a number of chamber groups using modern and period instruments. In 1999, he started a PhD on the subject of German seventeenth-century ensemble suites supervised by Peter Holman at the University of Leeds and, for the first year, John Butt at King’s College Cambridge. The Courtly Consort Suite in German-speaking Europe was published in 2009 and the companion volume, Consort Suites and Dance Music by Town Musicians in German-speaking Europe followed in 2016. 2009 also saw the start of a fruitful collaboration as a music editor with the German publishing house of Edition Walhall.
During all of this time, Michael has also been active as a teacher, in higher education, in schools and now privately. He first became a head of department in 1980 and, at Marlborough House, had regular successes with scholarship to senior schools. A number of his pupils have gone on to become successful members of the music profession. He is a visiting research fellow at the University of Leeds.
Michael lives in Hawkhurst with his wife Barbara, and he has been active as a musician in the local community conducting the Cranbrook Symphony Orchestra between 2007 and 2013. He is also a Parish Councillor. He has recently been appointed Director of Music at St Dunstan’s church, Cranbrook.
Michael studied the organ with John Railton and Robert Munns before going on to the Royal College of Music. After graduating, he concentrated on the harpsichord, both making and playing them; he also studied with the distinguished Dutch harpsichordist, Gustav Leonhardt. In addition to the Wigmore Hall, he has played at all the South Bank concert halls in London as well as the Barbican centre and St. John’s Smith Square. Most of this work was as a specialist continuo player, but he has also been a member of a number of chamber groups using modern and period instruments. In 1999, he started a PhD on the subject of German seventeenth-century ensemble suites supervised by Peter Holman at the University of Leeds and, for the first year, John Butt at King’s College Cambridge. The courtly consort suite in German-speaking Europe was published in 2009 and the companion volume, Consort suites and dance music by town musicians in German-speaking Europe followed in 2016. 2009 also saw the start of a fruitful collaboration as a music editor with the German publishing house of Edition Walhall.
During all of this time, Michael has also been active as a teacher, in higher education, in schools and now privately. He first became a head of department in 1980 and, at Marlborough House, had regular successes with scholarship to senior schools. A number of his pupils have gone on to become successful members of the music profession. He is a visiting research fellow at the University of Leeds.
Michael lives in Hawkhurst with his wife Barbara, and he has been active as a musician in the local community conducting the Cranbrook Symphony Orchestra between 2007 and 2013. He is also a Parish Councillor.