A native of Tennessee, Robert Carter Austin is currently in his thirty-third season as Music Director of the Garland Symphony Orchestra. Maestro Austin has an unusually diverse educational background for a classical musician, including a Bachelor of Science degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a Diploma (with Distinction) in Computer Science from Cambridge University, and a Master of Musical Arts degree from Stanford University.

Maestro Austin’s first professional appointment was as Artistic Director of the Chattanooga Opera in 1974. He added the post of Artistic Director of the Southern Regional Opera in Birmingham, Alabama in 1978. He became Music Director of the Cheyenne Symphony Orchestra in Wyoming in 1981, before coming to Texas as Music Director of the East Texas Symphony Orchestra in Tyler. He has served as Music Director of the Garland Symphony Orchestra since 1986, of the Las Colinas Symphony Orchestra since 1991, and of Symphony Arlington since 2000.

In frequent demand as a guest conductor, Maestro Austin has led performances with opera companies and symphony orchestras in eleven states in the U.S. His international credits include performances with orchestras in eighteen nations throughout Europe, Asia, and North and South America.                               

Off the podium, Maestro Austin describes himself as a closet country music fan and an unrepentant oenophile. His wife, Dr. Kathryn Gamble, is the Director of Veterinary Medicine at Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago, Illinois.