THE BATTALION EDUCATION STAFF
ROBERT SOTO - BRASS INSTRUCTOR
Robert Soto, is a native of El Paso, Texas. He has performed across the United States, Mexico, Canada and internationally in England and Brazil. He has worked with such artists as Sir Neville Marriner, Dave Leibman, Brad Leili, Alex Iles, Bill Reichenbach, Tito Puente Jr, composers Eric Nathan, Frank Ticheli and jazz legend Dave Brubeck. Robert has also recorded/performed with a variety of groups including the El Paso Wind Symphony, the Yale Concert Band, the Long Beach symphony, the Golden State Pops Symphony Orchestras, Conjunto Oyé, Son Mayor and the Clare Fischer Jazz band. He appeared on soundtracks for independent films and on the IFC show "Comedy Bang, Bang!" Robert has performed with the Yale Philharmonia at the 50th Anniversary Celebration of the Hungarian Revolution at Carnegie Hall in NYC, the Birmingham and Wigan Jazz Festivals in England, the International Association of Jazz Educators convention, the Texas Music Educators Association convention and the “Music for All” National Festival and Summer Symposium. As a featured soloist, Robert has performed at the Texas Tech Big XII Trombone conference, the Fullerton College Symphonic Winds and at the Cal State Fullerton “Trombone Day.”
Since coming to Los Angeles in 2008, Robert Soto has been in demand as a private instructor and guest clinician. He has worked with a variety of music programs ranging from beginning bands to high school ensembles, college/university groups, community bands and drum & bugle corps. Robert holds a Bachelor’s in Music Education degree Cum Laude from the University of Texas at El Paso and a Masters in Music Performance degree from Yale University, School of Music. He has studied trombone with Scott Hartman, John Lofton, Steve Norrell, Steve Wilson, Allan Kaplan and Robert Melendez. His conducting studies were with Dr. Ron Hufstader and Maestro Toshiyuki Shimada. Presently, Robert is on the music faculty for Fullerton College and is the director of bands at El Segundo High School in El Segundo, CA. Robert is a performing artist for Yamaha instruments and performs exclusively on Yamaha trombones.