Every instrument has its champions, but the tuba—deep, resonant, often underestimated—chooses its own. On this International Tuba Day, we’re spotlighting someone who’s been part of the Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra since its inception: our Principal Tuba player, Robert Carpenter. From an Orlando band kid to sharing the stage with world-class musicians and helping shape the instruments themselves, his journey is anything but ordinary. In this interview, he reflects on a lifetime of music, engineering, and the kind of inspiration that can only come from listening deeply—to others, and to yourself.
What drew you to the tuba in the first place?
“Very few people ever pick the tuba—the tuba picks them, and I’m no exception. I’ve talked to so many players that have some story where they’re either in a class they don’t like, or the instrument they’re going to play doesn’t work out, and switch to tuba. In my case, I showed up to band class several days after the first of the year and the director asked if I’d be willing to play a tuba and I said ‘if you show me what a tuba is, I will play a tuba’ and within the first note, I knew it. I knew it was the right instrument—it picked me! I’ve tried other instruments, but there’s nothing like tuba. I played trumpet a little bit, trombone a little bit, I could never make a sound out of a flute. So I knew a couple little things, but yes, I knew in an instant.”
What has your musical journey been like growing up in Orlando and being a part of the Orlando Philharmonic since its beginning?
“The whole thing is surreal. Orlando, despite being a small city (much smaller than it is today), had a pretty robust orchestra and it also had Rosie O’Grady’s. Rosie O’Grady’s was an old-time bar on Church Street. Church Street was bustling with bars, and entertainment, and fun and all that, and it had a dixieland band that played seven days a week there. So there were a lot of great musicians and they were floating between there and Disney and throughout. Because of that, the entertainment quality was high here—there were a lot of players influencing each other.
Then in the Florida Symphony Orchestra, most of the brass section came through Chicago. So there was a big connection between FSO and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. The men and women in the FSO brass section basically encouraged me, pushed me, drove me to go to Chicago and learn to play with Arnold Jacobs. Then I thought of coming back and things evolved. I was playing with the Florida Symphony a lot at the very end through the bad days they had, and then OPO started.”
Who were your biggest influences as a young musician?
“My brother. The musicians at Disney, the dixieland band with the Rosie O’Grady’s guys, the Florida Symphony people, but also my brother. My brother was nine years older and a jazz musician. He played rock-and-roll guitar in rock bands on Alice Cooper songs. I was six years old and that made a big difference. That’s why I tell young kids to listen to everything. Listen to rock and roll, AND go listen to Mahler’s symphonies.”
You’ve been with the Orlando Philharmonic since its founding in 1993—what are some standout memories from your time here?
“It’s an honor every single time I sit in the seat. Every time I get to sit down in the seat, it’s a privilege to get to play and it’s a really great orchestra. Having been here the whole time, I’ve seen a lot of things and have a lot of stories. One that I can think of was the first day of OPO. We just kind of showed up, we knew we were going to pick up some Pops outdoor concerts, and Andrew Lane walks in and steps on the podium. That was a surreal moment. The orchestra was good from the very first day.
Another memory is the first day we played in Bob Carr. I just found the program the other day from 1995! Another memory was when we played a Pops concert outside in the early days and it started pouring down rain and we invited the audience to come under the tent with the orchestra. That’s how I kind of think about the orchestra, it was small and really scrappy in order to survive.
More recently, we had some amazing moments when we played Mahler’s Fifth Symphony. It was unbelievably great playing. Shoutout to Gabe [Gabriel Bergeron-Langlois, Principal Bassoonist of OPO]. We played Rite of Spring and right after that I went to Boston and played with the Boston Symphony for a month, and those first couple of weeks was Rite of Spring right after having played it here. The piece opens up with a bassoon solo and my very first thought was ‘My god, Gabe is a great bassoonist!’ Richard, the principal bassoonist in the Boston Symphony, is a phenomenal musician, and Gabe is too.”
You hold degrees in both music performance and electrical engineering. How do those two worlds inform each other in your life?
“It really plays into each other more as time goes by. Early on, I really kept engineering and music separate in my mind. One side builds rockets, the other plays the tuba. They started converging technically when I started really digging in with how to build tubas and working with Kanstul. Working with metals, vibrations, and starting to apply engineering concepts.
More recently, I’ve realized that I’m applying the disciplines in the way that I think and the way that I approach a technical problem, I also apply in music. Non-musicians, non-artists, don’t have rehearsal—they go build something and put it in place and that doesn’t work. When you go build something, it never works—it’s just not going to. Now I have a whole path and we have ‘rehearsal.’ Combined with the work I’m doing on the OPO Board with strategic planning, it’s all parallel.”
Can you describe your work with Kanstul Musical Instruments? What goes into designing a “great” tuba?
“Making a great tuba is like any other engineering project. All the project management, all the visioning, all the stakeholder management, all the getting inside the brains of the tuba players, as well as inside the head of the builder, and figuring out business-wise what makes sense to do—that’s part of the challenge.
Usually in any project, technology is the easy part. In this case, the technology is very challenging though it’s still the easy part. The two real elements in the part that I was doing were the metals, the materials, and the construction. Getting the proper alloy, getting it hardened, getting the bell spun in such a way that the hardness and gradient is correct—that’s really what affects the sound of the instrument.
There’s the technical part of the bell, then there’s the construction—where do the braces go, looking at the stress levels at the end of it. These are concepts that were lost in America in World War II. York Band Instrument Company went out of business because of World War II and became a munitions factory and lost all their talent. That was 50 years of talent and skills!
I was really proud to get to work with Kanstul himself—what a great guy. He was mean, but not to me. He was always so sweet to me and we became really great friends. Now I’m also working a little with Eastman as well. You don’t want to do all that research and have it go away!”
What advice do you have for young tuba players?
“Follow all of the things you are interested in. Don’t drop them, because they come back and play with each other. If you’re interested in science, do that. If you’re interested in reading, do that. Be a big thinker. It’s not just about playing the notes. Don’t just go listen to other tuba players and geek out on that. Go listen to great singers, listen to great violin players, listen to great musicians of all different instruments and listen to all different types of music.
Don’t just learn how to play your band stuff, learn how to play jazz, pop, funk, and be a real musician. Know a lot and stay in shape. Practice good hygiene, keep your face healthy, and learn how to breathe. Don’t screw yourself up by listening to too many people about breathing—inhale and exhale. Don’t make it too complicated, but make sure you have lots of air when you play. That gets you a long way!”
His story reminds us that music isn’t just about the notes—it’s about curiosity, resilience, and staying open to unexpected paths. Whether he’s crafting tubas, playing Mahler, or advising the next generation, Bob brings the same deep resonance to all he does. On this International Tuba Day, we celebrate not just the instrument, but the rare individuals who embody its power and presence. The tuba picked him—and we’re so glad it did.