When Drew Robertson opened his violin studio in Manassas Park, he had no idea what God had in store for him.
In 2016, he decided to take the leap to start his own studio after working his way through a master’s degree at the University of Rochester’s Eastman School of Music in Rochester, N.Y. After saving every penny, he sold almost everything he owned, packed the rest of his belongings into his Mini Cooper and moved to Virginia to pursue his dream of opening a studio. But soon afterward, with only $60 left in his bank account and fruitless months without students, he was ready to give up. That’s when Rebekah Daly and her daughter Adelaide walked in.
The mother and daughter had been praying together for a year in hopes of finding the perfect violin teacher. There was an instantaneous connection when they met. Rebekah spread the word through the Catholic community and soon the studio was filled with Catholic families.
Robertson said it was through the witness of his students and the testimony of their families that he began to be drawn to the Catholic faith.
“Children are just very honest,” he said. “When they seek the truth and practice the faith, that is the greatest witness.”
Raised Southern Baptist in a family that was strong in the faith, Robertson fell away from religion after a church pastor was caught embezzling money. In high school and college, he only went when he was paid to play music.
That music is what brought him back to faith. As he taught his Catholic students, he noticed there was a diligence of practicing, attitude toward service and prayerful quality of focus that he had not experienced elsewhere. I found a “devoted group of studio parents and a complete absence of tiger moms,” Robertson said.
The pivotal moment in his conversion came in 2019, when Jon Laird, music director at St. Timothy Church in Chantilly, hired him to play for a wedding. Robertson performs more than a hundred weddings a year, and he’d noticed something different about Catholic weddings, but this one was particularly special.
The two Hispanic families at the wedding were filled with an overwhelming joy at “celebrating the making of a new family.” Father James Searby, parochial vicar, preached the homily and Robertson felt as if the priest was speaking directly to him. After Mass, he approached Father Searby and asked what it would take to join the church.
Robertson began the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults with Father Christopher Tipton at Saint John Paul the Great Catholic High School in Potomac Shores, where he substituted in the music department. His sponsor, James Florio, works in the school’s religion department. James and Leigh Florio’s 15-year-old daughter, Eva, had been taught by Robertson for the past five years. Leigh described him as “a good servant” and recognized his reverence for two things early on — classical music and the beauty of the Catholic Mass.
The families of Robertson’s students, many attend All Saints Catholic Church in Manassas and Holy Trinity Church in Gainesville, discover an excellent educational institution, but one dedicated to community outreach and service. Robertson serves as an EMT and will become a firefighter in Dale City in June. He leads students in performing at community events from religious and patriotic to farmers markets.
Robertson was confirmed April 16 at the Easter Vigil at St. Timothy Church with St. Hildegard of Bingen as his patron saint because she advanced music, biology, healing, diplomacy, and was “completely fearless about everything.”
Laird led Robertson’s violin students in a surprise performance of the recessional hymn, “Jesus Christ Is Risen Today.” He said Robertson challenges him to remember there is “no higher use of our musical talents than liturgy.”
Cook is a freelancer in Warrenton.
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