Musical Director

Rob Willis

We strongly suspect that our Musical Director, Rob Willis, arrived on Earth as part of an interplanetary  gap-year. He extended his stay having joined Exeter Children's Orchestra as a young player, developing a love of all things brass. He's currently building a trumpet-shaped spaceship in his garden shed.

Seriously though...

Rob joined the orchestra playing trumpet when he was 14 and didn;t like it!. He’d never played in a group before and it was all new and scary to him. But he persisted and after a few rehearsals came to love playing in orchestras.

Rob progressed to principal trumpet and then, once 18, took on the role of brass tutor teaching pieces and techniques. When Rob went to university in Plymouth, he came home each weekend to give private trumpet lessons and continue orchestra tutoring.

Aside from a few terms when other university students from Exeter Uni have led the section, Rob has been a continued presence at orchestra on Saturdays and at concerts.

In 2015, Rob was appointed musical director of Exeter Children’s Orchestra (now Youth Orchestra)
when  Richard Bowyer, the Orchestra’s long-standing conductor of over 40 years stood down which,, as he says,, is a hard act to follow.

Rob has continued to inspire and lead young musicians through a broad range of musical genres and styles.
Rob is also a nationally recognised handbell ringer and conductor, having performed and conducted at local, regional, national, and international events.

We are so lucky to have him guiding and inspiring our musicians.