Robert Stewart completed a Doctor of Musical Arts degree at the Queensland Conservatorium, Griffith University focusing on choral rehearsal processes. A chorister from a very early age, he has been a member of professional choirs, opera choruses, community choir section leader and church musician with a wide knowledge of choral repertoire. Robert was a voice student at Mount Allison University where he studied choral conducting with Carlton Elliot and choral literature with Dr. Willis Noble. He received a Master of Music (Opera) from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland and is also a graduate of the University of Toronto (Bachelor of Music in Performance; Advanced Certificate in Performance) majoring in voice performance. As an undergraduate he also studied orchestral conducting with Dwight Bennett and served as section leader and assistant to Dr. Doreen Rao.

Robert was co-founder and conductor of the award winning Exaudi Youth Choir- under his baton Exaudi was quickly recognised as one of the foremost collegiate-level ensembles in Australia. They have recorded two CDs, toured nationally and frequently commissioned new works. In 2009 the choir made a “clean sweep” at the Australian National Eisteddfod winning the Open Choral Championships as well as the Open Sacred, Open Contemporary and Australian-British sections. Through their many concerts and workshops, they championed choral singing and the music of Australian composers. Robert is frequently engaged as a guest conductor and clinician working with groups like the ACCET Choral Conductor School, the Festival of Voices, the Pemulwuy National Male Voice Festival, and the Queensland Conservatorium’s State Honours Ensemble Program.

As a performer Robert has twice been a finalist in the Mietta Song Recital Award and has appeared in the New Zealand Opera’s production of Carmen. He was also a regular soloist at St John’s Southgate as part of their Bach cantata series including performances with Bach’s successor, Thomaskantor Christoph Biller. A former Vocal Fellow at the Tanglewood Music Center, he participated in masterclasses with Pierre Valet, Phyllis Curtin and Ernst Haefliger. While at Tanglewood, he performed Bach’s Selig ist der Mann with American Bach scholar Craig Smith and members of the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra. Other concerts have included appearances on ABC Classic FM, the Ruskin Hall Recital Series, the Camberwell Chorale, the Heidelberg Choral Society and the Melbourne Chorale.

Robert is Head of Choral and Vocal Studies at Hillcrest Christian College. He also conducts the Conservatorium Singers at the Queensland Conservatorium, Griffith University and he is the Musical Director of the Queensland University Music Society (QUMS). Robert has been a choral conductor, voice teacher and French diction tutor at Monash University, the Melba Conservatorium and the Victorian College of the Arts. A passionate advocate and researcher in boys’ music education, Robert was Director of Music at Melbourne High School, Victoria’s largest State School music programme, and under his baton, the orchestra twice won the Royal South Street Eisteddfod. While in Victoria, Robert was Assistant Chief Assessor for VCE Music with responsibility for Classical and Contemporary Voice.