Bethany Robinson is a Yamaha Performing Artist, GRAMMY Music Educator Award Finalist, Recording Academy Member, NAfME Jazz Council Chair, and JEN Executive Board Member. She is currently the Director of Jazz for Purdue University, after building the program at Noblesville High School from 1 to 6 jazz ensembles, including 2 Jazz at Lincoln Center Essentially Ellington Finalist appearances. She is also the director for the Purdue Jazz Fest, the largest college-run jazz festival in the US.
Robinson was the 2014 Indiana Jazz Educator of the Year, 2015 Noblesville Teacher of the Year, a 2022 Jazz Hero Award Recipient from the Jazz Journalists Association, and the 2023 Indiana Outstanding High School Music Educator.
Bethany has presented at the Australia National Band and Orchestra Conference, Midwest Clinic, and State (NY/OK/IN/OH/SC) MEA Conferences, was the guest conductor for the New York, Iowa, and North Carolina All State Jazz Ensembles and chief adjudicator for the 2024 Victorian Schools’ Jazz Festival (Melbourne, Australia). She is a clinician and adjudicator independently and for Jazz at Lincoln Center, YAMAHA and Music for All. Bethany is an avid performer on upright bass, electric bass, and vocals.