Dr. Michael Robinson, Jr. is originally from Charleston, SC where he attended Burke High School under the direction of Linard McCloud. He has been an active freelance trombonist in Michigan and South Carolina as well as a private low brass instructor in Dorchester District 2, Berkeley, and Charleston Counties.

From 2007-09, he was awarded a 2-year contract as the Detroit Symphony Orchestra Fellow where his duties included playing principal and second trombone, along with community outreach services in the Detroit Metro Area. He has held positions such as acting 2 nd trombone with the Charleston Symphony Orchestra, Saginaw Bay Symphony, Canton Symphony, and Principal with the West Michigan Symphony. Also, he has subbed with the Grand Rapids Symphony, Toledo Symphony, Lansing Symphony, Charleston Symphony, and the Detroit Chamber Winds and Strings. Aside from classical music, he has been in several Broadway pit orchestras at the Fisher Theater in Detroit, the Wharton Center in East Lansing, the Strahan Theatre in Toledo, and the Devos Performance Hall in Grand Rapids. He is also a member of the Variance Brass Quintet with members from his undergraduate studies. As an avid chamber music performer, he is a member of the Variance Brass Quintet, which started a summer brass camp in 2015 in Tucson, AZ. Most recently, he is a founding member of an African-American brass quartet named Pitch. Before joining the College of Musical Arts, he was the Lecturer of Trombone at Mahidol University College of Music, as well as Principal Trombone with the Thailand Philharmonic Orchestra.

His summer festivals include the Aspen Music Festival, Bay View Music Festival, National Repertory Orchestra, and the Spoleto Festival USA. In the summers of 2005 and 2006, he toured Venezuela, Colombia, Argentina, Margarita Island, England, France, Italy, Belgium, and Germany with the Youth Orchestra of the Americas under the baton of Carlos Prieto, the music director of the Louisiana Philharmonic, and Gustavo Dudamel, music director for the Los Angeles Philharmonic. He is the two-time winner of the Tuesday Musical Solo Competition in Akron, Ohio, and he won the concerto competition as a student at Shenandoah University and Michigan State University. In 1998, he was a member of the National Wind Ensemble at Carnegie Hall under the direction of H. Robert Reynolds, Former Music Director at the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor.

Dr. Robinson received his Bachelor of Music Degree from Shenandoah University, Master of Music along with an Artist Diploma from the Cleveland Institute of Music, and his Doctor of Musical Arts degree from Michigan State University where was he was a University Distinguished Fellow. His teachers include Ken Thompkins, Randy Hawes, Steve Witser, Rick Stout, Per Brevig, Chris Matten, and Ava Ordman.

Olga Topuzova-Meade was born into a musical family in Odessa, Ukraine. She began her music studies at the P.S.Stolyrsky School of music for gifted children. Olga holds an honors diploma and Master’s degree from A.V.Nejdanova Conservatory in Odessa and received her Postgraduate Diploma from P.I.Tchaikovsky Conservatory, Moscow, where she studied with world-renowned pianist Sergey Dorensky. Olga has performed with the Philharmonic Orchestra in Odessa and at the International French Piano Festival in Paris, the Valsesiana Festival in Italy, the International Piano Master Course in Zurich and the Mozarteum International Summer Academy in Salzburg, Austria. In addition, Olga was awarded multiple international scholarships and performed in Festivals, International Master Classes and Competitions in Poland, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Austria, France, Romania and the United States. Olga moved to the United States in 2002. She holds a Music Certificate in Piano performance, a Master’s Degree in Piano performance and Collaborative piano from Bowling Green State University, where she studied with Maxim Mogilevsky and Dr. Winston Choi. She recently participated in Professional Development in music education with Boston University.

Olga has presented piano recitals at the Toledo Museum of Art on the special Steinway with case design by Wendell Castle. She is currently a pianist for the Bowling Green Middle and High School Choir department and pianist/organist for Waterville United Methodist Church and has released her Solo Classical Piano Music CD.