Korean  adoptee, Casey Robards (SuhJung Ahn) is a music director, pianist and vocal coach known for her sensitive musicality, expert collaborative skill, stylistic versatility and expressive conducting. Sought after as a collaborative artist, she has given recitals throughout the United States, Europe, Central and South America and Asia.

Robards maintains an active recital schedule, including separate touring programs with Karen Slack, Kenneth Overton, and LaToya Lain promoting justice and healing through art song and spirituals by Black composers. She has been dedicated to the performance, research and promotion of music by Black composers and writers for nearly three decades, with a focus on the Negro spiritual as well as places of intersection between gospel, jazz and classical music. Her latest CD releases include “What Dreams We Have (Lexicon Classics)” a project of art song settings of the poetry of Paul Laurence Dunbar with baritone Kenneth Overton, which debuted at #10 on Billboard Chart for Top Classical Music Album, and “Contemplations (Navona Records)” with Bernhard Scully, formerly of the Canadian Brass. She has also recorded albums with Fangye Sun (violin) with Blue Griffin and Sara Fraker (oboe) with MSR Classics.

As conductor, in 2024-2025, Robards debuts with Kentucky Opera (All is Calm), Indianapolis Opera (Il Barbiere di Siviglia), Opera Columbus (Le Nozze di Figaro), El Paso Opera (Bon Appétit) and Soo Opera (Susannah).She has worked as repetiteur for Santa Fe Opera, New Orleans Opera, and has conducted Three Decembers, The Scarf (South Bend Lyric Opera); Die Zauberflöte, La Bohème, La Traviata, Gianni Schicchi, Suor Angelica (Bay View, Michigan), Carmen (Wichita, Kansas) and Water Riot in Beta: A Cyberpunk Rock Opera (Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago). Robards is Music Director of Ensemble Concert 21, a chamber group devoted to the performance of contemporary music and the mentorship of young and emerging composers.

Dr. Robards is the foremost expert on John D. Carter, the subject of her dissertation. Her faculty affiliations include University of Illinois (current), Indiana University, Oberlin Conservatory, and Bay View Music Festival (2008-2023). She has been an invited speaker at the Cincinnati Song Initiative Fellowship of the Song, and served as a panelist for the Dallas Hart Institute for Women Conductors. Alongside Dr. Everett McCorvey, Kenneth Overton and LaToya Lain, she presents workshops and lectures to faculty and students who are interested in learning more about the performance practice and history of Negro Spirituals. Robards received the Henri Kohn Memorial Award for outstanding achievement at the Tanglewood Music Festival. Robards chairs the Sacred in Opera Initiative for the National Opera Association and has been active in IKCAS, NATS, and CMS.  She has twice served on the Advisory Panel for the National Endowment for the Arts (Opera) and is a Voting Member of the Recording Academy. Robards was selected to participate in the 2024 International Gugak Workshop in Seoul, Korea.