Conductor, educator, author and pianist, Roger Tabler is a versatile musician. With his Doctorate in Conducting from West Virginia University, he also holds a Master’s in Piano from Duquesne University and has a Bachelor’s in Music Education with concentrations in horn and piano from Indiana University of Pennsylvania. Roger has conducted for composers Karel Husa, Libby Larsen, Samuel Jones, Lucas Richman, and Alastair Stout, as well as being a contributing author to the Journal of the Conductor’s Guild.
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Roger is the Music Director of the Pittsburgh Youth Philharmonic Orchestra, an organization he founded in 1993. Initially designed to be the nation’s first youth pops orchestra, it has now expanded its programming to include a wide range of classical repertoire. With its flagship orchestra numbering over 80 musicians, a junior orchestra of 80+ members, and an elementary-level string orchestra of 20 members, along with summer camp this brings the PYPO family of ensembles to over 200 members. Under his baton, PYPO did a four-concert tour of Germany and Austria in 2007; a July 2010 tour of Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Hungary, a 2012 performing tour of Italy and France, a 2015 tour with performances in England, Belgium, and Holland, and is preparing for concerts in Germany and Switzerland in the summer of 2018.
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Having served thirteen years as the artistic leader of The Pittsburgh Philharmonic, Roger authored five theatrical concerts premiered by the Philharmonic: Sound & Sorcery: The Music and Magic of Halloween (a WQED-FM “Classical Pick of the Week”); Lincoln and Lee: The Music of the Civil War; The Greatest Music: A Tribute to the WWII Generation; All Aboard! A Musical Train Ride; and “1957”. During his tenure, The Pittsburgh Philharmonic doubled its audience, increased its annual budget 400%, expanded its season to twelve annual concerts, and established an endowment.
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Other past appointments include serving as Music Director of the McKeesport Symphony Orchestra, and Music Director of the San Damiano Consort. Besides these directorships, Roger has guest conducted the Butler Symphony, the Edgewood Symphony, the Duquesne University Chamber Orchestra, the Choirs of the Community College of Allegheny County, the Three Rivers Choral Society, West Virginia University Choirs, and several Pennsylvania Music Educators’ Festivals. Along with serving for two seasons as Assistant Conductor of the Slippery Rock University Orchestra, he currently serves on the music faculty of the Mt. Lebanon School District since 1991 and has twice served on the faculty of the Pennsylvania’s Governor’s School for the Arts.
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Away from music, Roger is an avid collector of antiques and books, as well as a die-hard gardener. He and his wife Cass are the parents of four children, so he finds his spare time to be pretty tight!
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