Roger Bobo

Roger Bobo is one of the modern era's best-known tubists, if "best-known" can be applied to an orchestral instrument with none of the sexiness of the violin family or the piano. However, Bobo has done a lot to raise the stature of the instrument. Born in Los Angeles in 1938, he graduated from the Eastman School of Music in 1961 and gave his first tuba recital soon after at the Carnegie Recital Hall in New York, meeting wide acclaim.

He moved to the Netherlands to give solo recitals and play as member of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra Amsterdam. In 1964, he returned to Los Angeles to play under the baton of Zubin Mehta in the Los Angeles Philharmonic, a position he kept for over 20 years. In the late '70s and early '80s, Bobo began releasing solo records, mostly on Crystal Records, highlighting the existing catalog of works for tuba and premiering modern compositions written especially for the instrument or for himself. In 1990 he moved to Florence, Italy, to teach music there and in England, lead the Italian National Youth Orchestra's brass section, and serve as mentor to those who want to devote their career to the instrument.