Personnel Bio
MUC Robert Holtorff

Chief Musician Robert Holtorff, audio engineer, was born in Chicago, raised in Omaha, and spent quality time in San Antonio and Washington, DC. He studied architecture at Washington University in St. Louis, broadcast journalism at the University of Nebraska, and Audio and Recording at Northeast College in Nebraska. MUC Holtorff came aboard the US Coast Guard Band in 2010. Prior to that, he was a member of the US Air Force Band from 1994 to 2009, where he worked as the engineer for the world-renowned jazz big band The Airmen of Note. He also toured extensively with the USAF Concert Band, Chorus, Strings, and Ceremonial Brass. Though relatively new to the Coast Guard, he voluntarily deployed to Alabama to assist with the Deepwater Horizon relief effort in August 2010.
MUC Holtorff has toured through Canada, Mexico, and 48 states, and twice toured through the Middle East and Europe in support of Operation Desert Greetings and Operation Season’s Greetings. He has designed, optimized, and installed touring sound systems at the Kennedy Center, the National Mall, the White House, numerous jazz festivals, dozens of high level protocol events, and in the cargo bays of two KC-10s and a KC-135. He has provided front-of-house and/or monitor engineering support for Kurt Elling, The New York Voices, Karrin Allyson, Blues Traveler, Ron Carter, Phil Woods, The Empire Brass, Doc Severinson, Jose Feleciano, Herbie Hancock, Paquito D’Rivera, Bob Berg, Cleo Lane, Peter Erskine, and Presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton, among others. He occasionally teaches and lectures on sound system design, computer analysis, and sound system optimization.
MUC Holtorff wears the Air Force Achievement and Commendation medals, as well as the Meritorious Service medal.