Section: Percussion
Title: Principal Emeritus
Bill Albin began performing with the RSO in 1975 under the direction of Manfred Blum, the same year he began his teaching career at Miami University as director of percussion studies and percussion ensembles, and also founded the M.U. world percussion program. He retired from M.U. last December but continues to collaborate as Professor Emeritus.
In the early 1990s, Bill began developing world music performance opportunities at Miami University and, with current M.U. percussion professor Chris Tanner, initiated Miami’s highly successful Steel Band program. After Bill made the first of six trips to Bali to study and perform gamelan music, M.U.’s gamelan ensemble was born.
Bill attended Indiana University receiving undergraduate degrees in music performance and music education. He completed a Master’s degree in percussion performance from Wichita State University and later completed a doctorate in Music Education from Indiana University.
In addition to performing with the RSO, he served as Principal Percussionist with the Cincinnati Ballet and as an extra with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, the Cincinnati Opera, and in the Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra. He has also served as Principal Percussionist of the Middletown Symphony and the Fillmore Philharmonic Brass.
Bill is most proud of having the opportunity to perform in the RSO alongside numerous former M.U. students.
In Bill’s own words “What success I might have had as a performer is all the result of a supportive wife and family that consists of three lovely daughters and four beautiful grandchildren, expanding to five this coming fall.”