Q&A: Robyn Black on Playing Tuba and Being the Youngest Player in MSO

At age 23, Robyn Black is the principal tuba in the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra and its youngest member. Raised in Vernon Hills, Illinois, she beat out numerous players from around the country in a blind audition and signed a contract with the ensemble in 2020. The pandemic delayed her debut, but she played her first concert with MSO in March 2021. She’ll perform in MSO’s season opener featuring Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade from Sept. 27-29.

What was it like coming into the orchestra at your age?

It was definitely a bit daunting. Just coming straight out of school into a professional environment was something that, I don’t feel like I was unprepared for in the sense of doing the job, but it was not all that I was expecting. It felt like a little bit of whiplash, just being in classes and then taking lessons all the time, and then suddenly being on the job. All of my coworkers were so incredibly welcoming, and I felt really supported. And it’s just such a wonderful environment with everybody in the orchestra that I felt right at home when I got there. And it’s been a really incredible time ever since I’ve started.

Had you been to Milwaukee before joining the orchestra?

I’d been to Milwaukee a couple times. I didn’t know as much about the city as I thought. I usually would go down to Chicago more frequently, and I didn’t realize how much of a gem I had sitting just an hour north of me.

What drew you to the tuba?

My godfather played the tuba, and he passed when I was really young, but he left behind a really tiny E-flat tuba, which was about as tall as me when I was three or four years old. I started on piano, but my mom was a French horn player, so I was always drawn to brass instruments. I would try to just noodle around on the tuba and try and make some noise with it. I had to lay down on the floor because I wasn’t big enough to pick it up to play it. …

What’s kept me going on the instrument is just that I really love being able to fill out the bottom end of the sound spectrum. There’s something that’s special to me about those moments in the orchestra where everything is really quiet, and there’s some high instruments playing, and then the tuba just comes in on this low note and just kind of provides a pillow underneath the entire ensemble and just fills everything out.

What’s it like being the only tuba player?

It is a little bit different than some of the other principal roles in the orchestra, because typically, some of the responsibilities is to manage their section and make sure that everything is cohesive stylistically. And I don’t really have any other section mates, except for the rare piece here and there where there’s two tubas … I have a little bit more freedom (being) the only one on the role. But also, I’m doing a lot more collaborating with the trombones and listening over to the basses instead, to try and just blend and match my sound as much as possible.

It’s fun to be the only one on the part, but it also means that you’re the only one on the part. … But I’ve never minded having a little bit of pressure. It keeps it interesting.

Any standout moments from the few years that you’ve been with the orchestra?

We’ve played a lot of exciting repertoire, like getting to play Bruckner’s No. 7 a couple years ago, or Mahler’s No. 2 – a lot of really big pieces that I’ve always dreamed of getting to play and getting to do it on that incredible stage with all the wonderful musicians that are surrounding me. Those have been really special moments to me, that the first time getting to do anything like that is always going to have a special place in my heart.

What’s something you’ve learned during your time in MSO?

I understand it a lot better now, the extent that music is a really collaborative process … Milwaukee Symphony has a supportive, wonderful culture. We’re all just working towards a common goal – trying to make something beautiful.

What’s your favorite thing about what you do?

Getting to be on stage and playing all these pieces that have been so fun to me for so many years, and getting to share that with our audiences … There’s definitely a deep appreciation of classical music in Milwaukee, which warms my heart.

What’s something you’d like to see for the future of Milwaukee arts?

There’s some really exciting things that the people in the city have to offer, especially some unique things that we haven’t seen before. For example, the production of La Boheme that we did in the spring, which was a Bronzeville adaptation of the opera … I would love to see more artistic endeavors like that, unique and outside of the box.

What concerts are you looking forward to this season?

Sibelius’s No. 2 (Oct. 11-12), which has a great tuba part. There’s also Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet (Feb. 28-March 1) – we’re playing suites one and two from the ballet. That’s great because there’s this movement called Montagues and Capulets, where it’s just tuba and the bass trombone with this crazy, super low and loud one.