Korean American adoptee, Dr. Casey Robards (Suh Jung Ahn) is a music director, pianist and vocal coach known for her sensitive musicality, expert collaborative skill, and stylistic versatility. Her performances regularly cross between opera, art song, chamber music, spirituals, and musical theatre.

In 2024-2025, Robards has conducting debuts with Cincinnati Opera (cover), Kentucky Opera, Opera Columbus, Indianapolis Opera, Soo Opera, El Paso Opera. As conductor, upcoming recording projects include Jack Perla and Jessica Murphy Moo’s “An American Dream” and an album of world premieres with Ensemble Concept 21, the contemporary chamber group which appointed Robards music director in 2023.

A sought-after recitalist, Robards has performed throughout the U.S., Europe, Central and South America and Asia. Vocal partners include Karen Slack, LaToya Lain, Kenneth Overton, Karen Hughes Beacom, Angelique Clay, Ollie Watts Davis, Cherry Duke, Brian Downen, Jennifer Forni, Risa Harman, Jennifer Lien. Recent albums include “What Dreams We Have” with Kenneth Overton (Lexicon Classics) which debuted at #10 on the Billboard Chart for Top Classical Album and “Contemplations” with Bernhard Scully (Navona Records).

A committed pedagogue, Robards has special interest in piano and vocal music by Black composers, having experience in Black sacred music genres. She is the foremost expert on the life and music of John D. Carter (1932-1981). Dr. Robards wrote a chapter on collaborative piano for “So You Want to Sing Spirituals” published by Rowman & Littlefield.  Interested in the intersection of music and social justice, Robards has created benefit recitals for MUSICAMBIA, a non-profit organization that creates music conservatories in prisons. Robards is Chair of the Sacred in Opera Initiative for the National Opera Association and Asst. Prof. of Lyric Theatre at the University of Illinois.