The late Robert D. Fitzer, Director of Clarinet Studies at the Dana School of Music, enjoyed a distinguished 26-year career as a clarinetist and music educator. After making his Carnegie Hall début at the age of nineteen, he played for two years with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, with whom he toured and recorded the Grammy Award-winning Four Symphonies by Johannes Brahms. He was also a member of the Orquesta Filarmónica de la Ciudad de México (Mexico City Philharmonic), the San Antonio Symphony Orchestra, the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, and he performed with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. He traveled to Russia early in 2006 to perform and record as soloist with the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra in the world première of a clarinet concerto by Los Angeles composer, Johnterryl Plumeri. He performed in 43 American states, four provinces in Canada, and throughout Europe. He worked under many of the world’s great conductors, including Sir Georg Solti, Claudio Abbado, Carlo Maria Giulini, Carlos Kleiber, Erich Leinsdorf, Robert Page, and Lawrence Leighton Smith.