Robin Ireland was violist with the celebrated Lindsay String Quartet between 1985 and 2005, and with the Primrose Piano Quartet from 2007 till 2015. He was Head of Chamber Music at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire from 2014 till 2021. He now performs as a soloist and freelance chamber musician and continues to teach, coach chamber music, and give master classes. He has recorded two CD s for viola and piano with Tim Horton, on the Nimbus label, and in 2024 completed his recording of the six Bach Cello Suites, on viola.
Robin was a student at Cambridge University and at the Eastman School of Music, Rochester, New York. He had a short spell as leader of the Las Palmas Symphony Orchestra while still a violinist and subsequently became a founder member of the Piano Quartet, Domus, which toured with its own portable concert hall (a geodesic dome) as well as having great success in more conventional venues.
Robin is also a composer and has a CD of his String Quartet and three Duos, “Pairings” on the Meridian label. During Covid lockdown, he has made arrangements for four violas of the fugues and other movements from Bach’s Sonatas for unaccompanied violin and these are available as a recording of a live concert.
Robin now lives in Brittany, and in addition to his work in the UK is exploring new avenues for making music locally, as well as composing and arranging.