Robert Cannon

Dr. Robert Cannon is currently an Associate Professor of Instruction at Texas State University and has taught there since approximately 2008. He retired from the Austin Symphony Orchestra in 2021 after having performed with them for over 30 years, the last sixteen years as Principal Trumpet. He retired from the Austin Opera Orchestra in May of 2026, having performed with them for almost 40 years, the last twenty years as Principal Trumpet. 

He has been a professional trumpet player since 1976, when he started performing with the Louisville Orchestra. He has also performed with the San Antonio Symphony, the Mid-Texas Symphony, the Laredo Philharmonic, Conspirare, the Victoria Bach Festival, Chorus Austin, Texas Choral Consort, Summer Stock Austin, the Zilker Musical, Magnolia Theater, the Pinnacle Brass, Texas State University Faculty Brass, the University of Texas at Austin Faculty Brass, the University of Southern Mississippi Faculty Brass, the Louisville Brass Quintet, and many others. He has also been a freelance professional trumpet player since 1976. 

Dr. Cannon has also taught trumpet at the University of Texas at Austin, Southwestern University, Texas Lutheran University, William Carey College, and the University of Southern Mississippi. He has taught privately at many Austin, Texas, area middle schools and high schools since 1984. He was Assistant Director of Bands at Columbia High School, Columbia, MS, and an Assistant Director at Henry Middle School in Cedar Park, Texas. 

Dr. Cannon holds a DMA degree in Trumpet Performance from the University of Texas at Austin, where he was a Graduate Teaching Assistant, a Master’s in Trumpet Performance from the University of Southern Mississippi, where he was a Graduate Teaching Assistant, and a BM in Trumpet Performance and a BMED in Music Education from the University of Louisville. He attended the National Music Camp in Interlochen, MI, for several summers and the Grand Tetons Orchestral Institute. 

He has studied privately with James Wilt of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Raymond Crisara of the NBC Symphony, Richard Giangiulio of the Dallas Symphony, Michael Tunnell of the University of Louisville, Leon Rapier of the Louisville Orchestra, and Delbert Hoon of the Louisville Orchestra. He has performed in orchestras with such artists as Andrea Bocelli, Yo -Yo Ma, Luciano Pavarotti, Itzhak Perlman, Midori, Hilary Hahn, Joshua Bell, James Galway, Doc Severinsen, Alison Balsom, Elvis Costello, Charlie Daniels, Olivia Newton-John, the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, Manhattan Transfer, and many others.