Bob Milne is a self-taught pianist. He says that when he was younger he thought

everyone knew how to play the piano. It was so simple and natural for him to be able to play what he heard.

A native of Michigan, Milne has played piano professionally since 1964 – but he actually started out on the French horn. A young virtuoso, he was already in the Pontiac Symphony by the time he was in the 10th grade. He continued his studies at the Eastman School of Music in

Rochester, NY, quickly becoming Ass’t 1st horn in the Rochester Philharmonic, and later in the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra.

When not performing with the orchestras, Bob enjoyed musical studies of a different kind: playing piano for sing-a-long crowds in local saloons. He had so much fun with it that he retired from horn playing at his peak, at age 22, to pursue all the opportunities being thrown at him to play the piano.

Before becoming a concert artist, it is estimated that he played 35,000 hours in the Detroit area in various establishments and in music festivals all over the country. His concert performing career began in 1991 and has taken him on tours all over the U.S. and beyond: Bob was named a Musical Ambassador by the U.S. State Department, touring widely in Japan and Switzerland.

Milne was declared a National Treasure in 2004 by the Library of Congress after being interviewed for the national record. His documented ability to “hear,” in his head, four different symphonies playing at once continues to be studied by neurological scientists.

In May of 2022, Bob was awarded an honorary doctorate degree from the University of the South, in Sewanee, Tennessee. This lifetime achievement award came as a surprise to Bob who says, “I’m only trying to do the best I can for as long as I can.”