Our Conductor
Dr. Robert Franzblau has lived and worked at the intersection of musical performance and music education for over forty years. Recently retired from teaching and conducting music at the college level, this fall he begins his fifteenth year as conductor and artistic director of the Rhode Island Wind Ensemble.
Franzblau earned the Bachelor of Music from the University of Iowa; studied conducting with John P. Paynter at Northwestern University, earning a Master of Music; and received his Ph.D. in music education from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Continuing education includes private conducting study with Frank L. Battisti, as well as Level I instrumental certification in Music Learning Theory from the Gordon Institute for Music Learning. He has taught instrumental music at all levels, from sixth grade beginning band to graduate students in music.
In 2021, he earned RYT® 200-hour instructor certification in Integrative Yoga Therapy at One Yoga Center in Foster, RI. His yoga teaching emphasizes alignment, strength, and balance as cornerstones of healthy aging, as well as a sense of curiosity and wonder at the connection between body, breath, and mind.
His 2013 book, So You Want to Be a Music Major: A Guide for High School Students, Their Parents, Guidance Counselors, and Music Teachers, published by Meredith Music Publications, received very positive reviews in The Instrumentalist and the Journal of the National Band Association. He has presented clinics at numerous conferences including the Midwest Band and Orchestra Clinic and state music education associations in Texas, New York, Wisconsin, Ohio, and Massachusetts, among others. Other publications include “Why Music Isn’t Basic” in the WASBE Journal, “A Conducting Analysis of Eric Whitacre’s October” in The Instrumentalist, “Serve it Fresh!” in The Music Director’s Cookbook, and an analysis of Steven Bryant’s Anthem in Volume 9 of Teaching Music Through Performance in Band.
He serves as reviewer for the Music Educators Journal, as editor of the Rhode Island Music Educators’ Review, and as a guest conductor, clinician, and adjudicator for bands throughout the country.
Our Assistant Conductor
Kristin Voccio has been a member of the RI Wind Ensemble since 1991, when she joined the group under the direction of its founder (and her former clarinet instructor) Frank Marinaccio. She was appointed Assistant Conductor in 2006 by then-conductor Nedo Pandolfi, and upon his retirement in 2008, led the ensemble for the fall season while the search for a new director was underway. In addition to RIWE, she performs with the Tri-County Symphonic Band on clarinet and saxophone, and has also performed with the Taunton Civic Chorus, the Simply Sentimental Swing Band, and Larry Brown’s Swinglane Orchestra.
Voccio is a graduate of RI College (B.S. and M.A.T. in Music Education) and has been a high school music director for over 35 years. She currently teaches band, chorus, music theory, and piano at Dighton-Rehoboth Regional High School, where she also directs the jazz band and select choir. She is a member of the Massachusetts Music Educators Association, the Southeast Mass. School Bandmasters Association, and the Mass. Instrumental and Choral Conductors Association.