Robin McCabe

Dr. Robin McCabe is professor of piano at the University of Washington in Seattle, WA , co-director of the Seattle Piano Institute, and instructor for master classes.

Celebrated pianist Robin McCabe has established herself as one of America’s most communicative and persuasive artists. McCabe’s involvement and musical sensibilities have delighted audiences across the United States, Europe, Canada and in nine concert tours of Asia. The United States Department of State sponsored her two South American tours, which were triumphs both artistically and diplomatically.

As noted by the New York Times, “What Ms. McCabe has that raises her playing to such a special level is a strong lyric instinct and confidence in its ability to reach and touch the listener.” The Tokyo Press declared her a “pianistic powerhouse,” and a reviewer in Prague declared, “Her musicianship is a magnet for the listener.” Richard Dyer, the eminent critic of the Boston Globe: ‘Her brilliant, natural piano playing shows as much independence of mind as of fingers.” Her recordings have received universal acclaim.

McCabe, earned her bachelor of music degree summa cum laude at the University of Washington School of Music, where she studied with Béla Siki, and her master’s and doctorate degrees at the Juilliard School of Music, where she studied with Rudolf Firkusny. She joined the Juilliard faculty in 1978 then returned to the UW in 1987 to accept a position on the piano faculty. With colleague Craig Sheppard, she has launched the highly successful Seattle Piano Institute, an intense summer immersion experience for gifted and aspiring classical pianists.

McCabe performs regularly throughout the United States, and has made several tours of South Korea, Japan, Taiwan and China. She appears often as a jurist for international piano competitions.  She served on the jury of the Gina Bachauer International Piano Competition in 2016 and the jury for the Hilton Head International Piano Competition in 2022, In October of 2023 she made her fifth concert tour of China.