Robert Dillon is a member of Third Coast Percussion, as well as serving as TCP’s Development Director. With Third Coast Percussion, he has performed thousands of concerts in 39 states and on 4 continents, commissioned and premiered over 100 new works for percussion ensemble by composers ranging from Philip Glass, Georg Friedrich Haas, and Augusta Read Thomas to Danny Elfman, Jlin, and Devonté Hynes, and has been nominated for six GRAMMY awards: five as a performer (with one Grammy win) and once as a composer. His compositions appear on recordings on Cedille Records and Orange Mountain Music, and have been performed by Timothy Munro, Sérgio Assad, and Clarice Assad, as well as percussionists at Eastman School of Music, San Francisco Conservatory of Music, Texas Christian University, Boston Conservatory at Berklee, Southern Oregon University, and the University of Denver, among others.

In addition to Third Coast Percussion recordings, Robert can be heard on Innova Records, Naxos Records, and Parlour Tapes+, and has performed as a soloist in America, Switzerland, and Jordan. He has also performed as a substitute with the Chicago, Boston, and San Diego Symphony Orchestras, and served as principal percussionist in the Madison Symphony Orchestra from 2007-2008. A passionate educator, he previously served as chair of percussion studies at Merit School of Music and a percussion instructor at Loyola University Chicago.

Robert has appeared numerous times on the Chicago Symphony’s contemporary music series, MusicNow, as well as the University of Chicago’s Contempo series, and was a member of the unique, international 12-percussionist Ensemble XII, which grew out of Pierre Boulez’s Lucerne Festival Academy (Switzerland). Robert was a member of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, and participated in programs at the Tanglewood Music Center, Spoleto Festival USA, National Repertory Orchestra, and Pacific Music Festival (Sapporo, Japan).

Robert holds a Bachelor of Music from Northwestern University and a Master of Music from the New England Conservatory, where he received the John Cage Award for Outstanding Contribution to Contemporary Music Performance. His teachers include Michael Burritt, James Ross and Will Hudgins.