Robert Finley was born in Hull in the north east of England, and started to play the piano at the age of seven. When he was ten years old, he took an interest in the music of popular pianist Russ Conway and tried to imitate his style of playing by listening to records and playing by ear. The music teacher at his school recognized that he was very musically talented and decided to prepare him for the entrance examination for junior exhibitioners (scholarship) at Trinity College of Music in London. He was accepted and studied piano and musicianship at the college. He played the Mendelssohn Piano Concerto in G minor with the Trinity College orchestra, and the Mozart K414 piano concerto with the Harrow Youth Orchestra at the age of fourteen. In 1968 he went to the University of Sussex to study for a Bachelor of Science degree in electronic engineering. He played the Shostakovich Piano Concerto Op 102 with the University Chamber Orchestra.

In 1971 he played the Rachmaninoff 1st Piano Concerto with the Harrow Youth Orchestra. He began studies with Norma Fisher (student of Ilona Kabos and protégé of Gina Bachauer) and later with Albert Ferber  (student of Walter Gieseking, Margaret Long and protégé of Serge Rachmaninoff). In 1976 he gained his diploma with honours from the Royal College of Music.

He played in the masterclasses of Louis Kentner, David Wilde, Vlado Perlemuter and Bernard Roberts (at Dartington), and Jorge Bolet (during Edinburgh Festival). He played the Schumann Piano Concerto and the Rachmaninoff 3rd Piano Concerto with orchestra.

In 1980 he emigrated to the USA and in 1981 made his debut at the Isabella Gardner Stewart Museum in Boston, where parts of his recital were shown on the late night news program on WBZ television during a documentary about museums by Joyce Kulhawik. In 1986 he played in the masterclass of Jorge Bolet during the Liszt Centennial at the Library of Congress auditorium in Washington DC. He gave a Liszt recital in Boston during the same year to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the death of Franz Liszt.

 

He has given many recitals in the UK, USA, France, Germany, Israel and Argentina, delighting audiences with his genuine musicianship and singing tone and receiving excellent press reviews.

 

He is an expert in MIDI recording and synthesis and was one of the first to produce high quality real-time MIDI sequences of piano solos and concertos (including the Rachmaninoff 3rd, Chopin 2nd, Tchaikovsky 1st, and Litolff Scherzo with syntheszied orchestral accompaniment) and make them available on the internet. His MIDI recordings can be found on many websites around the world. These recordings can be played on electric pianos, player pianos, and synthesizers. In 1995 the high quality of his MIDI recordings was noticed by the QRS Music Technologies Inc. and he was invited to record three albums for their player piano system. His MIDI sequences have also been used for electronic CDROM games and for soundtracks of films. He has given lectures on MIDI sequencing and technology to the Institute of Electrical Engineers and other organizations.

 

He has won prizes in international piano competitions and was the runner up in the 2002 Washington International Piano Artists Competition in Washington DC.  In 2001 he founded the Boston Piano Amateurs Association, a non-profit organization that arranges a bi-annual international piano competition for outstanding amateur pianists.

 

He teaches the piano privately and gives piano recitals in the USA and overseas. He also plays at weddings ceremonies, parties, corporate events and other functions.  He is available to give lectures on MIDI recording, lecture-recitals on various composers and styles of music to schools, colleges and musical societies.