Robyn Jacob is a pianist, singer, composer and educator who lives and works on the unceded territories of the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh, Xʷməθkʷəy̓əm and Səl’il’wətaʔ Nations, also known as Vancouver. She has toured Canada and internationally with her avant-pop project Only A Visitor, who have released four albums to date, recently signing on with Mint Records.
Her recent composition projects explore writing for unusual ensembles, as well as collaborations with visual artists and instrument makers. 2023 will see the premiere of new works commissioned by Re:Naissance Opera, Chor Leoni, as well as Vancouver Inter Cultural Orchestra. In 2021 she was commissioned by Sō Percussion and Architek Percussion to create two new works for percussion ensemble. In 2020, she was commissioned by Little Chamber Music to write A World In Each for 42 strings, for which she received honourable mention in the 2022 SOCAN Her Music Awards. In 2019 she was commissioned to write a piece for percussion quartet by Grammy winning Third Coast Percussion as part of their Emerging Composer Project.
In early 2020 she celebrated the release of Earth Leaps Up on the label elsewhere music with her duo The Giving Shapes in collaboration with harpist Elisa Thorn. Since 2012 she has been part of the multi-disciplinary arts collective Publik Secrets, currently artists in residence at the Hadden Park Field House with the City of Vancouver. In 2013 she toured Bali with Gamelan Gita Asmara, and has since been co-leading Gamelan Bike Bike. Robyn has received a Bachelor’s degree in Music from the University of British Columbia, and has completed residencies at the Banff Centre for the Arts and Joya AiR in Spain. She has been teaching music and piano privately for over 15 years.
