Rob has always been a singer, but the arrival in his childhood home of an IBM Model 30 (one of the first in Decatur) was a defining moment, triggering an enduring interest in the mechanics of music (though he didn’t put it that way at age 8). In the dim glow of the screen, he taught himself Basic and set about composing melodies, later inventing effects with recordings from his church’s domed narthex.

He developed his robust tenor voice in church choir and high school musicals (he played what we’re assured was a great Joe Cable in South Pacific) and went on to a Bachelor in Music Education from Indiana University, singing and recording at the time with an informal group of friends who have since achieved fame as Straight No Chaser. The next stop was Nashville, where he team-taught high school music and moonlighted in retail outside Opryland. In a surreal moment behind the counter one evening, he found himself selling a karaoke machine to Harry Connick Jr., an episode that will forever go unexplained but one that surely left its mark: shortly thereafter, he was off to the Peabody Institute for a Master of Arts in Acoustical Studies.

Degree in hand, he moved with his wife to Seattle, joining the acoustics staff at Sparling (later acquired by Stantec), directing a church choir and starting a family along the way. Ten years down the line, he brought his experience in both acoustics and AV systems to Threshold. He very obviously enjoys chasing his three boys around and continues his musical pursuits through his community chorale.

Recent Projects

Rothko Chapel

Cygnet Theatre

The Ronald O. Perelman Center for the Performing Arts at the World Trade Center