Robert Emmett Vokes

1928 - 2019

August 18, 1928 - January 19, 2019
Robert Emmett Vokes was born in Plainfield, New Jersey, on August 18, 1928, to Cathleen and Robert Vokes. Emmett is survived by Carol, his wife of 51 years, as well as his children: Everett, Robert, Steven, Sean, Kathleen, Kevin, Nicolette, Amy, Meghan, and Ariane. He is also survived by his brother, Tom, 15 grandchildren, and one great grandchild. He is preceded in death by his brother, John.

Emmett was a child prodigy on the piano, studying in a French music school in New Jersey as a young boy. He started touring when he was seven years old, playing 40 concerts before the age of nine.

In 1947, he attended The Juilliard School, where he was awarded a full scholarship and studied with Beveridge Webster and Sascha Gorodnitzki. He graduated from Juilliard with his Bachelor's Degree in 1952 and his Master's degree in 1957, both in Piano. He won numerous musical awards and honors, including the Juilliard Concerto Competition. As a winner of the Martha Baird Rockefeller Foundation Award, Emmett played solo concerts in New York City's Town Hall and Carnegie Hall. Other awards include two consecutive G. Schirmer prizes, the Olga Samaroff award for best performance at the Juilliard School, the Frank Damrosch Award for graduating first in his class at Juilliard (musically and academically), and the Morris Loeb Award for achieving the highest Master's level at the Juilliard School.

Following graduation, he toured under Columbia Artist Management with The New York Philharmonic Piano Quartet. He taught Piano at Peabody College and The University of Texas at Austin, where he was the Associate Professor and Coordinator of the Piano Department. In the spring of 1968, he started teaching at St. Mary's University, where he was on the music department faculty for 50 years. He died on January 19, 2019, at the age of 90.