Violist Robert Fornos currently studies at The Juilliard School with Toby Appel and Paul Neubauer. Prior to college, he studied with Michael Klotz.

Robert is assistant principal violist of the Columbia University Orchestra, and previously served as principal violist of the Greater Miami Youth Symphony, New World Symphony’s Side by Side Ensemble, and the 2022 Florida All-State Symphonic Orchestra  with celebrated conductors Mei-Ann Chen, Jeffrey Milarsky, and Michael Tilson Thomas, among others.

Robert attended The Josef Gingold Chamber Music Festival studying with Paul Coletti and Katharina Kang, and the Heifetz International Music Institute  where his most influential mentors included Juan-Miguel Hernandez, Mark Jackobs, Mai Motobuchi, and Barbara Westphal.

In addition to orchestral and festival experiences, Robert was a second prize winner in both the Alhambra Orchestra Young Artist Concerto Competition and the Greater Miami Youth Symphony Concerto Competition. He was a finalist at the Juilliard School’s Viola Concerto Competition in the 2022-23 school year. Most recently in June, he received honorable mention at the Fried Music School Concerto Competition.

Robert studies in the Columbia-Juilliard Program where he is pursuing computer science and music.