Robbi Finkel is an American and Canadian composer, record producer, pianist and arranger. He is an eclectic musician excelling in the most diverse musical idioms.

Grammy nominated, Finkel is an honorary lifetime voting member of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences

National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences

The National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences, Inc., known variously as The Recording Academy or NARAS, is a U.S. organization of musicians, producers, recording engineers and other recording professionals dedicated to improving the quality of life and cultural condition for music and its...

 (Grammy Awards).

He is best known for his work on numerous record arrangements and productions in France (Jacques Dutronc ‘Cest pas du Bronze’, Jacques Higelin ‘Champagne pour tout le monde, Caviar pour les autres’, Alan Stivell Tir Na Nog/Symphonie Celte) and in Canada (Cirque du Soleil Alegría

Alegría

Alegría is a Cirque du Soleil touring production, created in 1994 by director Franco Dragone and director of creation Gilles Ste-Croix.Alegría is one of Cirque du Soleil's most popular touring shows. Since its premiere in April 1994, it has been performed over 5,000 times and seen by over 10...

, Zumanity, Les Colocs Les Colocs, Suite 2016, Moist Mercedes Five and Dime) for his musical composition of the internationally acclaimed Cybersix

Cybersix

Cybersix is a series of Argentine comic books created by writers Carlos Meglia and Carlos Trillo. The series first appeared in Spanish in November 1993....

 animated cartoon series (Tokyo Mitaka Studios, Network of Animation), as well as the music of several multimedia games (Mattel Slotcars, Ubisoft Entertainment Hype: The Time Quest

Hype: The Time Quest

Hype: The Time Quest is an adventure video game developed by Playmobil Interactive and distributed by Ubi Soft Entertainment. The game, released in the year 1999 along with Alex Builds His Farm , is based on the medieval castle toy series from Playmobil...

), theatrical (DHC Productions Atreus, Compagnie Pol Pelletier Joie, Océan) and film productions (Les Charlots Charlots’ Connection, Retour des Bidasses en Folie).

Early life

Finkel started playing piano when he was four years old. In the Philadelphia area he began piano lessons at five with Heinrich Ziegler, later theory with Elizabeth Binder and piano with May Harrow. He also studied viola at eight, later guitar and at fourteen played tympani in the Philadelphia Youth Orchestra and performed at the Academy of Music as member of the Cheltenham High School Choir. He later studied piano at the Conservatoire de Lausanne, piano and theory with Cemal Resid Rey in Istanbul. When Finkel lived in Paris he was invited by colleague arranger and flautist Chris Hayward to attend master classes in composition with Nadia Boulanger at the École Normale Supérieure de la Musique. He was later introduced to Julien Falk

Julien Falk

Julien Falk is a french composer.He was a famous composition teacher at Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique and wrote many theorical music books....

by colleague arranger Gabriel Yared, and studied composition privately with Julien Falk for four years.

External links

• Unofficial Robbi Finkel Website
• Finkel to judge on The Ordos Prize