UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN River Falls

Music Program

Robert Beidler

Robert Beidler portraitRobert "Bob" Beidler taught aspects of voice and musical productions for the Music Department from 1966 to 1989.  He was born in Michigan, near Detroit, in 1935 and grew up there.

Bob received his B.S. in Music from Central Michigan University in 1956 and his Master's of Music in 1960.  From 1956-1958 he taught in public schools in Michigan, and after he received his Master's degree, he taught at Lincoln University from 1960-1964.

He was hired by Bill Abbott in 1966 to join the UW-RF faculty to teach voice, choral and vocal literature, and to direct musicals.  Over the years, he helped prepare the music and musicians for "Kismet," "West Side Story," Gilbert and Sullivan operettas, Floyd's "Susannah," and other opera scenes and musicals.  He also directed the UW-RF Women's Chorus and the River Falls Community Choir during the summers.  He sometimes performed in the musicals, and he was an accomplished comic actor and singer of tenor parts.  Every part of his body was engaged, and his twitching feet could be as memorable as a spoken line.

Bob was a member of the National Association of Teachers of Singing and the Minneapolis Center Opera Company in 1969.  On campus, he served on various faculty committees such as the Budget Committee (1971) and the Building Usage Committee (1973-74).  He was an avid and fine tennis player, and during good weather he could be found playing tennis with fellow faculty members on the courts which stood where the south wing of the library now stands.  Herb Cederberg of the History Dept. was a long-time partner on the courts.  So was music colleague Conrad De Jong and music alumnus Elliot Wilcox.

Bob retired from the university in 1989 and moved to Lansing, Michigan, his home territory.

Contact Us

Music Department
music@uwrf.edu
715-425-3183
B46 Kleinpell Fine Arts

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