Metropolis Youth Symphony founder dies at age 51
The founding director of the Metropolis Youth Symphony, who led the group to performances in Carnegie Hall, the Czech Republic and the 2000 Summer Olympics in Australia, has died at age 51.
Robert Ian Winstin, an award winning composer and conductor, suffered a massive stroke following heart surgery at a hospital in Norfolk, Va., and died Friday.
At the time of his passing, Mr. Winstin served as music director and principal conductor of the Millennium Symphony and the Virginia Youth Symphony, both in Virginia, as well as serving as principal guest conductor and composer in residence of the Kiev Philharmonic in the Ukraine.
His most recent post in the Northwest suburbs was as music director and conductor of the American Synfonietta, which he formed in 2004 after leaving the Metropolis. He left the group, based at Harper College, in 2007.
"Robert was a wonderful friend to the village of Arlington Heights," said Mayor Arlene Mulder. "He was a talented musician and composer, but he was also a motivator, who inspired and empowered his students by making all their hard work and practicing turn into success and accomplishment.
"And, through his unique personality," Mulder added, "he made everything fun."
Mr. Winstin was born in Chicago and studied music and composition at Chicago Musical College and the Julliard School in New York.
He was teaching piano in Arlington Heights when he started working with the children of Mark Anderson, who later developed the Metropolis Performing Arts Centre in downtown Arlington Heights.
"His recitals were downtown (Chicago)," Anderson says. "It was really quite something what he could do with those children."
The two began having discussions about building a youth orchestra for the performing arts center. In the fall of 1999 - six months before the Metropolis opened - Winstin began rehearsing the group of 80 students in the band room at St. Viator High School in Arlington Heights.
"Right from the start, the idea was to develop an educational opportunity for kids in music," Anderson says.
The youth symphony was the first group to play in the theater, holding a debut performance on April 28, 2000, after a ribbon cutting and dedication ceremony.
Dayna Anderson, no relation to Mark Anderson, was part of the initial orchestra, serving as its first concertmaster, at the age of 13.
"I was able to see him work with a group of kids from scratch," says Dayna Anderson, who last spring was named concertmaster of the Delaware Symphony Orchestra. "All of us had a great time playing together, and so much of that was due to his ideas.
"Whether it was the unique pieces we played, like movie scores, or playing with rock bands, or the venues where the orchestra performed," Anderson added, "he had a real knack for knowing what would motivate us. He will be missed."
Her mother, Holly Anderson, adds that Mr. Winstin, with his trademark long hair and breezy attitude toward his music and students, was something of a throwback.
"He had a unique, eclectic approach to conducting, carrying that '60s mentality in his approach to all things music," Holly Anderson added. "He made classical music fun."
Mr. Winstin is survived by his wife, Susan, and two stepchildren. Funeral services take place today in Portsmouth, Va., though people are working on a plan to hold a memorial service in the Northwest suburbs at a later date.