The Robin Cox Ensemble

Violin, cello, clarinet, percussion, live electronics, and video...The Robin Cox Ensemble is truly unique. In its first eight years, this new music group with a one-of-a-kind instrumentation has already held over one hundred performances, collaborated with many prominent choreographers, composers, and video artists, and has released two critically acclaimed recordings.

Robin Cox is a composer and violinist known for performances of his own work and those of other contemporary composers. As director of The Robin Cox Ensemble, he has performed his music over one hundred times throughout the United States, produced two critically acclaimed CD recordings, and premiered works by many contemporary composers. He is also an active concert producer, leading a highly successful mixed-media presenting series in Santa Barbara as Executive Director of Iridian Arts, Inc.

His collaborations include work with choreographers Keith Johnson, Stephanie Nugent, Loretta Livingston, Doug Nielsen, Anita Cheng, Eun Jun Gonzalez, Catey Ott, Jerry Pearson, and Jeff Slayton, video artists Kwame Braun and Carolyn Bremer, and playwrights Maggie Mixsell and Judy Bauerlein.

He has also collaborated, performed, and produced concerts with musicians including Pamela Z, Phil Kline, Art Jarvinen, Brad Dutz, Michael Lowenstern, Eclipse String Quartet, Dan Becker, Belinda Reynolds, Jim Connolly, Amy X Neuberg, Ryan Brown, Scott Deal, Eve Beglarian, Sarah Cahill, Luke Dubois, and Todd Reynolds.

Cox was awarded the 2002 and 2003 Lester Horton Awards for Outstanding Achievement in Music for Modern Dance and continues to collaborate with his wife, Stephanie Nugent, and many other choreographers and video artists. He also received a 2004 ASCAP Deems Taylor Award for promotion of contemporary American music for his founding of Iridian Radio. This station is now one of the most widely heard contemporary concert music internet broadcasts worldwide.

Dr. Cox serves on the faculty of the California Institute of the Arts and California State University -Long Beach. He holds degrees from the University of Texas at Austin, University of Michigan, and the University of Miami, studying with composers Leslie Bassett, William Bolcom, Donald Grantham, Dennis Kam, Peter Terry, and Dan Welcher.

His many commissions and grants include awards from the American Composers Forum, American Music Center, ASCAP, Cal St. -Long Beach, New Horizons Chamber Ensemble, Santa Barbara Dance Theatre, Livingston Dance, The Carolina Brass Trio, Fairbanks Symphony Association, percussion soloist Scott Deal, bassist Tom Peters, and The San Diego/Tijuana New Music Festival.

Cox has previously served on the faculty of University of California -Santa Barbara, Valdosta State University, California State University -Los Angeles, Chapman University, and the North Carolina Governor's School. He co-produced the Miami contemporary music series Music at Twilight and served as an administrator for the National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts.

Erik Leckrone, percussionist, has performed with a wide variety of ensembles, and projects throughout the United States including the Sinfonietta Orchestra of Chicago, the Long Beach Symphony, the Elgin Symphony, the Torrance Symphony, Disney records “A World of Happiness” with artists Issac Hayes, Lisa Loeb, and Deborah Harry, “A Lou Rawls Christmas”, and the soundtrack for the movie “The Grudge”.

He has performed for national tours with the California Theatre Company, the Madison Repertory Theatre Company, and the Northern-Light Theatre Company of Chicago, IL.

Originally from Middleton, WI, he received his Bachelor’s degree in Percussion Performance from Northern Illinois University and his Masters degree in Percussion Performance from California State University, Long Beach.

As an educator, Erik has been involved for several years with “Meet the Musicians”, a performance outreach program for elementary schools throughout Orange County.

Along with freelancing in the Los Angeles area, Erik is currently percussion instructor at Fullerton College and staff accompanist for the dance programs at Chapman Univ. and the Univ. of California, at Irvine.

Eric Mellencamp, percussionist, has performed throughout the United States, Europe, and Asia. He was born and raised in the Los Angeles area, and earned his Bachelor’s degree at California State University, Long Beach. While there his teachers included Gregory Goodall and Michael Carney.

In addition to his work with The Robin Cox Ensemble, Eric's chamber music endeavors have included performing with the Contemporary Artists Percussion Ensemble and the Los Angeles Percussion Collective.

He has performed and recorded with numerous orchestras and ensembles, including the West L.A. Symphony, Los Angeles Metropolitan Orchestra, Bel Canto Opera Company, and the Burbank Chamber Orchestra. He performed at the Salerno Music Festival with the American Youth Symphony, and was a featured soloist with the South Coast Symphony on William Kraft’s "Concerto for Four Percussion Soloists and Orchestra.”

Eric has also worked with such varied artists as Judy Collins, Jerry Goldsmith, Lynn Harrell, Michael Kamen, Zubin Mehta, Midori, Maxim Yengerov, and John Williams.

Maggie Parkins, An uncommonly versatile musician, cellist Margaret Parkins is in demand as
both performer and teacher. Based in Los Angeles, Parkins is equally at home in chamber music, orchestral music and the avant-garde, and has performed throughout the Americas and Europe.

Her current work ranges from concert recitals to multimedia, multi-genre collaborations. Always an advocate for new and experimental music, Parkins, with the Eclipse String Quartet, has commissioned or premiered numerous works from composers including Carla Kihlstedt, Zeena Parkins, Fred Frith…Recent projects with Eclipse include Penelope, an evening-length concert-theater piece with composer Sarah Kirkland Snyder and playwright Ellen McLaughlin, commissioned by the Getty Center and premiered in 2008.The Eclipse String Quartet released its first CD in 2005 on John Zorn’s Tzadik label. Parkins is also a member of the Mojave Piano Trio and was a member of the Omni Ensemble in New York. Her interest in music outside the classical tradition has led her to perform with groups including the Jazz Passengers and the Anthony Braxton Ensemble.

As an orchestral performer, Parkins has performed under the batons of Seiji Ozawa, Leonard Bernstein, Simon Rattle, and Andre Previn. Her orchestral experience also includes the Brooklyn Philharmonic, the Syracuse Symphony, the Los Angeles Master Chorale, the Riverside Symphony and the Santa Barbara Chamber Orchestra. No stranger to the solo stage, Parkins has performed concerti and recitals with the UC-Irvine Symphony Orchestra, Tanglewood Festival Orchestra, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and many others. She has collaborated with singers as diverse as Jessie Norman to Enya to Megan McCauley to Bjork. An active recording artist as well, Parkins has recorded extensively with harpist Zeena Parkins and with accordionist Guy Klusevsek on the Tzadik, Avan, and Victo labels.

While working on her doctorate at the State University of New York at Stony Brook, Parkins was a prizewinner in the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition with the Stonybrook Piano Trio. Ms. Parkins has performed around the world at prestigious venues including the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, the Banff Centre, Festival Internacional de Musica de Cadaques (Spain), Heidelberg Castle Festival, Spoleto (USA and Italy), the Taktlos Festival (Switzerland), and the Bach Aria Festival in New York.

Parkins received her B.M. from the Eastman School of Music and her D.M.A. from the State University of New York at Stony Brook. Her principal teachers include Timothy Eddy and Steven Doane, and she has performed in master class with Yo Yo Ma, Joel Krosnick, Bernard Greenhouse, and Menahem Pressler. She has led master classes at New York University, University of Nevada, Lawrence University, and Chapman University, and has taught cello and chamber music at UC Irvine since 1997 and is also currently on the faculty at Irvine Valley College.

Marty Walker, is a clarinetist who specializes in the performance new music. (He has premiered more than 80 works written especially for him.) Among the labels for which he has recorded are CRI, O.O.Discs, Tzadik, Cold Blue, Grenadilla, Echograph, New World, and Rastacan. Walker has toured and recorded with various new-music ensembles, including the California E.A.R. Unit, Some Over History, eXindigo, Viklarbo, and Ghost Duo.

As a soloist, he has presented live radio concerts on NPR, Pacifica, and other radio venues and has performed at numerous new music festivals, including New Music America (Miami and Houston), the International Festival of New Music (Los Angeles), and New Music International (Mexico City), and noted new music venues, including Real Art Ways, FaultLines, the Monday Evening Concerts, and Wires. The Los Angeles Times called Walker’s playing "masterfully expressive;"

El Nacional (Mexico City) wrote that his playing "took the audience to another musical dimension;" and Option magazine called him "one of the finest new-music clarinetists in the country." 21st Century Music magazine wrote of Walker's Cold Blue CD Dancing on Water "If people are best known by the company they keep, then clarinetist Marty Walker is blessed indeed. He keeps wonderful company with an excellent series of composers. . . . both the playing and the recording quality are sparkling."

Nic Chaffee, audio engineer, is accomplished as an engineer and as a musician. Born and raised in Long Beach, CA, he holds degrees in Jazz Studies and Composition from California State University, Long Beach. Nic has been the head audio engineer for the Robin Cox Ensemble since 2002, and has also worked on sound crews for professional ensembles such as the Long Beach Municipal Band and Vocalogy.

He has also mixed literally hundreds of concerts and recordings for colleges, churches, and independent bands around the Los Angeles Area. Currently Nic is employed as a Product Manager in the Pro Audio division of Yamaha Corporation of America.

Nic is also an accomplished performer and composer. He works regularly as a free lance trumpet player with various ensembles playing nearly every style, including jazz, blues, funk, rock, and salsa, and has appeared on stage at venues such as the Verizon Wireless Amphitheater, the Grove of Anaheim, and the Disneyland Resort.

While attending CSULB, Nic was awarded the Tom Talbert scholarship for jazz performance and the Paul C. Lindsay scholarship for composition. Nic's diverse musical background gives him a unique perspective on audio engineering. Because he has experience as a performer, composer, and engineer, he is able to balance several points of view and create mixes which are pleasing to all involved.