From 1997 to 2025, Rob was Director of Saxophone at the Royal Northern College of Music, Manchester. Joined by Carl Raven and Andy Scott in the regular RNCM teaching programme, with Tim McAllister as visiting International Tutor, and a stellar roster of visiting Saxophonists giving masterclasses throughout the academic year. Over that time, the Saxophone department established a worldwide reputation as one of the destination choices for young saxophonists at the start of their careers. The programme that Rob devised at the RNCM allowed each individual student to develop their own sense of musical identity, developing skills in classical, jazz and beyond. It also focussed on the entrepreneurial side of life as a freelance musician, working as soloist, chamber musician, orchestral and session player, improviser, composer, arranger, project leader, educator, doubler. The skillset of the modern saxophonist expands each year as the music business itself evolves. Students over the years joined us not just from the UK but from as far afield as Japan, Australia, Lithuania, South Africa, Portugal, Luxembourg, Norway, Canada, Germany, the US, the Netherlands and Russia, and each one bringing a new energy and personality to the ever growing RNCM Saxophone family. Under Rob’s direction,  RNCM Saxophone Ensemble regularly performed at the RNCM, at World and European Saxophone Congresses and our students also feature as soloists and chamber ensembles at these events, leading their own projects. Attending these international events, enabled the students to connect with the global saxophone community that will be a vital part of their futures as performers and teachers in the years to come. The JuniorRNCM also boasts a dynamic department of school-age saxophonists, lead by RNCM saxophone alumni Ruth Bourn, Gilly Blair and Carl Raven.

In 2001 Rob and Andy established the RNCM Saxophone Day, the UK’s largest annual saxophone gathering, which has run every November since that time, bringing the world’s leading exponents of the saxophone in all genres to the RNCM to work with saxophonists of all ages, levels of experience and backgrounds, in a day of concerts, workshops and classes. Special guest saxophonists over the years have included Bob Mintzer, Chris Potter, Marius Neset, Tim Garland, Eric Marienthal, John Helliwell, Julian Arguelles, Iain Ballamy, Group S, Artvark Quartet, Iain Dixon, Andy Sheppard, Trish Clowes, Karen Sharp, Claude Delangle, Vincent David, Tim McAllister, Arno Bornkamp, Otis Murphy, Niels Bijl, Johan van der Linden, Leo van Oostrem, Habanera Quartet, Apollo Quartet, Carlama Orkest, and Delta Quartet.
Info can be found at www.rncm.ac.uk/saxophoneday