Conductor
Dr. Robert Hunt, Conductor
Dr. Rob Hunt, CONDUCTOR, is Professor of Music at Lone Star College-Kingwood and has conducted the Pops since 2019. He has been the Music Director and Conductor of the Midland-Odessa Symphony and Chorale, Musical Director of the off-Broadway American Cabaret Company, Director of Commercial Music Studies at Midland College, and Music Director of the Opera Workshop at Sam Houston State University. Under his leadership, the Midland-Odessa Symphony presented classical artists of the first rank, including Helen Donath, Susan Graham, Eugene Fodor, and James Dick, and performed major works with the combined choirs of Texas Christian University. The highly successful pops series included appearances by the Moody Blues, Kansas, and the New York Voices.
Dr. Hunt has also collaborated as pianist and conductor with popular artists such as The Lettermen and Julius LaRosa, played piano in Willie Nelson’s band, and toured with the late Ray Price as conductor and pianist. His orchestral arrangements were heard at the ESPN Empire State Games and the 2005 televised holiday concert of the New York Pops at Carnegie Hall. He arranged and conducted a Broadway revue for the American Express anniversary gala at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York City. A dedicated educator, Dr. Hunt has served as clinician for junior high and high school all-city and all-region choirs and orchestras. He was the Artistic Director of the National Young Artists Competition and is a frequent adjudicator for piano festivals and competitions. He recently was the adjudicator and clinician for the chamber music competition at the Texas Music Teachers Association convention. A SHSU opera production that he conducted was awarded first place in the American Prize. At LSC-Kingwood, he teaches music theory and piano, conducts two orchestras, serves as the collaborative pianist, and directs the summer Opera Workshop. He also serves as organist at First Presbyterian Church-Kingwood. He studied at SMU, TCU, and Indiana University-Bloomington, majoring in piano, musicology and conducting, and earned the Doctor of Musical Arts in Choral Conducting from the University of Houston.
Music is the Hunt family business: his wife, Jackie, has held positions in arts management with orchestra and theater organizations; his son, Austin, directs an award-winning choral program in Aldine ISD and is director of the Luminari Boys Choir and Cathedral Choir at Hope Point Anglican Church in The Woodlands; daughter, Caroline Beal, can be heard on the soundtrack of the TV series Walker! and sings lead in the world champion barbershop quartet, The Ladies.