Longtime North Carolina Band Director to Lead Final Concert This Week

September 1, 2017

When the Mars Hill University Wind Symphony performs its spring concert this Thursday, April 20, it will mark the end of an era. Mike Robinson, Mars Hill’s director of bands, will conduct his final concert before retiring at the end of the spring semester. The concert is at 7:30 p.m. in Moore Auditorium on the university campus, and is open to the public with free admission.

Robinson long has been a fixture of the North Carolina music education scene. Before joining the Mars Hill University faculty in 2007, he taught for 30 years in the state’s public schools — 25 of them at Asheville High School. During his 25 year tenure at Asheville High, the band won 25 consecutive “superior” ratings at the North Carolina Concert Festival. He directed the Asheville Community Band from 1996 until 2016.

Mike Robinson received his music degree from Mars Hill in 1977. He is a member of the North Carolina Band Directors Association Hall of Fame and is a former president of the association. He twice received the association’s Award of Excellence. Robinson received the Citation of Excellence from the National Band Association. In 2000 he received the John Philip Sousa Foundation’s Legion of Honor Award. In 2015 he was presented the Al G. Wright Award given by Women Band Directors International, honoring outstanding support of women band directors over a period of many years. Robinson is an active clinician and adjudicator for music events throughout the Southeast.