Introduction

Robert Vernon served as principal viola of The Cleveland Orchestra from 1976 to 2016 and was the longest-tenured string principal in the Orchestra’s history. He performed more than 4,500 concerts with the Orchestra and recorded more than 200 works with five different record labels.

Vernon has collaborated with many of the great conductors of our time, including Valery Gergiev, Pierre Boulez, Georg Solti, Simon Rattle, Lorin Maazel, Franz Welser-Möst and Christoph von Dohnányi, among others.

Education

  • The Juilliard School 

Teaching Experience

  • Cleveland Institute of Music
    • Viola faculty, 1976–present
  • The Juilliard School
    • Viola faculty, 2009–present
  • Additional teaching experience:
    • Kent/Blossom
    • The National Orchestral Institute in Maryland
    • The New World Symphony in Miami