Praised by The New York Times as "an artist who makes one hang on every note," Robert deMaine has distinguished himself as one of the finest and most versatile cellists of his generation, having performed to critical acclaim as soloist, recitalist, orchestral principal, recording artist, and chamber musician throughout the world, from the stages of Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center in New York, the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., to the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires, Amsterdam's Concertgebouw, Berlin Philharmonie, Vienna Konzerthaus, and Moscow's Tchaikovsky Hall. A first-prize winner in many national and international competitions from the time he was 12 years old, deMaine became, in 1990, the first cellist ever to win San Francisco's prestigious Irving M. Klein International Competition for Strings.

A fourth-generation string player, Robert deMaine was born in Oklahoma City to a military and musical family of French (Franco-Belgian) and Polish extraction. He was introduced to the cello at the age of four by his mother and sister, both accomplished cellists, and by the time he was ten years old was performing such demanding works as Tchaikovsky's "Rococo Variations." He also studied harmony, solfège, counterpoint, composition, voice, guitar, conducting, and piano with the music director of his parish, Rose Rahal. By the age of 12, he had come to the attention of famed cellists Pierre Fournier, Christine Walevska, and Leonard Rose, who all encouraged him to continue his studies in New York and abroad. A Catholic priest, Father Ernest Flusché, provided sponsorship which enabled him to pursue his studies as a teenager with Leonard Rose at Juilliard Pre-College, after which he attended the Meadowmount School, the Eastman School of Music, the Piatigorsky Seminar in Los Angeles, Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara, the Marlboro School and Festival, and Yale University on full-tuition fellowships (graduating with high distinction from Eastman and with the school's highest honor, the Performer's Certificate). DeMaine also studied at the University of Southern California and the Kronberg Academy in Germany.

In addition to his family's musical influences, public school string program, and parochial musical education, deMaine's many cello teachers have included Jane Smith, Kari Padgett Caldwell, Leonard Rose, Stephen Kates, Luis Garcia-Renart, Richard Kapuscinski, Steven Doane, Paul Katz, Ronald Leonard, and Aldo Parisot; he participated in master classes with Bernard Greenhouse, Christine Walevska, Lynn Harrell, Ronald Leonard, János Starker, Boris Pergamenschikow, and studied chamber music with Felix Galimir, Jerome Lowenthal, and Alexander Schneider.

The recipient of a career grant from the Helen M. Saunders Foundation, deMaine's many distinctions have included First Prizes from the Naftzger String Competition, the Corpus Christi International String Competition, the American String Teachers Association New York Solo Competition, the Piatigorsky Seminar (with sponsorship by the Colburn Foundation), the Saint Louis Symphony Young Artists Competition, the Julius Bloch Awards, the Keith Awards, and the Premio Sipario di Milano for Excellence in Classical Performance where he was the first cellist to be selected for this Italian arts-and-entertainment honor. He was also a top prize-winner in the 1990 Chicago Cello Competition. DeMaine was honored in both 2003 and 2004 by the Alliance Française and was the recipient of the Detroit/Motor City Music Award for Best Classical Instrumentalist in both 2004 and 2008.

Robert deMaine has collaborated with many distinguished musicians, including violinists James Ehnes, Hilary Hahn, Gil Shaham, Pamela Frank, Ani and Ida Kavafian, Thomas Zehetmair, Joseph Silverstein, and Felix Galimir, pianists Emanuel Ax, Andre Watts, Claude Frank, Jeffrey Kahane, Anton Kuerti, Anne-Marie McDermott, Marc-André Hamelin, Jeremy Denk, Orion Weiss, Adam Neiman, Valentina Lisitsa, and Yefim Bronfman, and conductors Neeme Järvi, Leonard Slatkin, Arild Remmereit, Dennis Russell Davies, Ludovic Morlot, Peter Oundjian, Victor Yampolsky, Andrew Litton, Juanjo Mena, David Stahl, Uriel Segal, Joel Levine, Thomas Wilkins, Joel Suben, Walter Hendl, Mark Wigglesworth, Nicholas McGegan, Julian Kuerti, JoAnn Falletta, Mikhail Jurowski, James Gaffigan, Kevin Rhodes, Jun Märkl, Alexander Schneider, Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, and Yoav Talmi. As a chamber musician, he is a frequent guest artist at dozens of music festivals throughout the world, including Aspen, Chautauqua, Bargemusic, Talcott Mountain, Skaneateles, Great Lakes, Meadow Brook, Mainly Mozart (San Diego), Napa's Music in the Vineyards, VivaVirginia, Cabrillo, Breckenridge, Mimir (Dallas-Ft. Worth), Grove (Michigan), Peninsula (Door County, Wisconsin), Bay Chamber Concerts (Maine), Ottawa, Parry Sound and Gananoque (Ontario), Montréal (Québec), Meadowmount, Norfolk, Seattle, Steamboat Springs, Utah, Heidelberg (Germany), Festival Asturias (Guatemala), Medellín and Cartagena (Colombia), San Miguel de Allende (Mexico), Buenos Aires (Argentina), Bergen (Norway), and the Marlboro Music Festival in Vermont, also performing with Music from Marlboro in New York and Washington, D.C. He has collaborated with the Beaux Arts Trio, Kronos, Cleveland, Mendelssohn, Juilliard, Emerson, Parisii, Chiara, Amernet, Pacifica, and American String Quartets, and now performs regularly with violinist James Ehnes and pianist Andrew Armstrong. DeMaine is also the cellist of 4 newly formed chamber ensembles: the Ehnes Quartet (with violinists James Ehnes, Amy Schwartz Moretti, and violist Richard O'Neill), Icarus with flutist Richard Sherman and pianist James Wilhelmsen, Trio21 with violinist Judy Kang and pianist Jeffrey Biegel, and the Chroma Piano Trio with violinist Nurit Pacht and pianist Priya Mayadas.

A much sought after music teacher and coach, deMaine has led master classes worldwide, and has taught cello, chamber music, and orchestral repertoire at the University of Connecticut, Hartford Conservatory of Music, American Festival for the Arts in Houston, Conservatories of Music in Corrientes and Buenos Aires, Argentina and Medellín, Colombia, the Grieg Academy in Bergen, Norway, Eastman School of Music, National Orchestral Institute, New World Symphony, Interlochen Arts Academy, the University of Michigan, and is an Adjunct Professor at the Wayne State University Music Department (Detroit's music conservatory). Additionally, he maintains a very select studio of private students.  Mr. deMaine's former pupils have been laureates of major solo and chamber music competitions in the U.S. and abroad, and can also be found in professional chamber ensembles and symphony orchestras throughout the world. He is also a frequent panelist/adjudicator for string competitions throughout the United States. A featured blogger for Paul Katz's comprehensive cello website, www.cellobello.com, Robert deMaine has recorded for Dorian/Sono Luminus, CBC, Elysium, Capstone, Blue Griffin, DSO, Naxos, and CRI records, and his performances can be heard on NPR's "Performance Today," the CBC, and seen on PBS and RAI, among other media outlets. 

Mr. deMaine is also a composer, having written much music for his own instrument which he often performs, including a set of Twelve Études-Caprices from 1999. He has collaborated with many of today's young composers and has premiered works written for him, most recently Summer Verses for Violin and Cello by Christopher Theofanidis, which received its first performance in July, 2009 at the Seattle Chamber Music Society's Summer Festival to great critical acclaim.  Other composers whose works have either been dedicated to or have received premieres by Mr. deMaine include Kenneth Fuchs, Jeffrey Mumford, and Joel Eric Suben.

Robert deMaine is currently in his second season serving as the Artistic Director of "Classical Brunch," a new, successful Metro Detroit chamber music series at the Community House in Birmingham, which presents engaging hour-long concerts in addition to educational outreach programs.  During the 2011-12 season, he will assume the same post as Artistic Director and Curator of Chamber Music at the Detroit Symphony Orchestra/Max M. Fisher Music Center.  Prior to these appointments, Mr. deMaine worked in the capacity as a presenter at the Holly Music Festival in Oakland County, Michigan and Detroit Pro Musica.

An enthusiastic advocate of musical "buried treasures," Robert deMaine has a vast, wide-ranging repertoire of over 100 concertos from the ubiquitous to the obscure. A devoted audiophile, he proudly owns the entire discography of the great French cellist, Pierre Fournier (1906-86), including some rare autographed albums. Also an avid instrument and bow collector, he possesses at least a dozen cellos, antique and contemporary, including examples by Italian masters Joseph Gagliano of Naples, and Antonio Gragnani of Livorno, both circa 1780, and bows by the French makers F.N. Voirin, Nicolas Maire, Louis Bazin, Paul Jombar, Alfred Lamy, Alfred Nürnberger, and Dominique Peccatte, all dating from the early- to mid-19th-century. Since 2006, Robert deMaine has performed on a cello made in 1841 by Jean Baptiste Vuillaume, a gift to him from the Cecilia Benner Trust.

From 2002-2010, Robert deMaine has been the Principal Cellist of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, occupying the James C. Gordon endowed chair. Mr. deMaine has served in the same capacity with the New York String Orchestra, Neeme Järvi's All-Star Mahler Orchestra at the Riverside Church in New York, Hartford Symphony Orchestra and Connecticut Opera, and was Visiting Principal of the Metamorphosen Chamber Orchestra in Boston, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, Toronto Symphony Orchestra, and the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra.

Robert deMaine makes his home in Grosse Pointe Farms, Michigan with his wife, Elizabeth, and two children, Paul and Annette.  A special debt of gratitude goes to Nevius Curtis and Cecilia Benner for their generous support.