CHRISTOPHER ROBSON

Counter-tenor

Christopher Robson was born in Scotland and studied privately in London with Paul Esswood and Helga Mott.  He also took part in master classes with Peter Pears, Laura Sarti, John Shirley-Quirk and Geoffrey Parsons.  Now widely regarded as one of the foremost exponents of the counter-tenor voice, with a repertoire ranging from medieval monody to contemporary opera, he has won critical acclaim for the energy and commitment of his performances.  In recognition of his work in opera he was awarded the  Festspiel Preis in 1997 and 2002 by the Gesellschaft zur Forderung der Münchner Opernfestspiele. In February 2003 he was awarded the title of Kammersänger by the State of Bavaria.

Since his debut with the English National Opera in 1981 Christopher Robson’s engagements have included appearances with the Royal Opera Covent Garden, Scottish Opera, Opera North, Glyndebourne Touring Opera, Manchester International Festival, Opera Factory London, New London Consort, Houston Grand Opera, Chicago Lyric Opera, New York City Opera, Sao Paulo Opera, De Vlaamse Opera in Antwerp and Ghent, Opéra de Nancy, Opera Factory Zürich, Berlin Kammeroper, Frankfurt State Opera, the Bayerische Staatsoper, Munich, the Royal Opera Copenhagen, the Teatro del Liceo, Barcelona, Badisches Staatstheater, Karlsruhe and at the Bolshoi, Moscow and in Kiev with English National in repertoire including Orlofsky  DIE FLEDERMAUS, Trinculo THE TEMPEST, Sorceress and Spirit DIDO AND AENEAS, Baba the Turk THE RAKE’S PROGRESS and his many Handel roles include the title-role and Tolomeo GIULIO CESARE, Arsamenes XERXES, Unulfo RODELINDA, Mago Cristiano, Donna and Araldo RINALDO, title-role and Andronicus TAMERLANO, Polinesso ARIODANTE, title-role ADMETO, Cyrus and Daniel BELSHAZZAR, Didymus THEODORA, Lichas HERCULES, David SAUL Hamor JEPHTHA and Narciso AGRIPPINA. He has also sung Holofernes in Scarlatti’s LA GIUDITTA in concert.

Christopher Robson is equally at home with contemporary music, having performed Edward Kelley in Damon Albarn’s DOCTOR DEE (world premiere) the title-role in the Philip Glass AKHNATEN (American and UK premieres), Mystery Man in the UK premiere of Olga Neuwirth’s THE LOST HIGHWAY, Edgar in Reimann’s LEAR (UK premiere), Goethe’s FAUST (PARTS I AND II), Oberon A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM, Apollo DEATH IN VENICE and the world première of Hans-Jürgen von Bose’s KAFKA PROJECT.  He also took part in the UK premiere of Maderna’s SATYRICON and created the roles of Ometh in John Casken’s GOLEM (world premiere, Almeida Festival), Claire in John Lunn’s opera of Genet’s THE MAIDS (world premiere, Lyric Hammersmith), Refugee in the world premiere of Jonathan Dove’s FLIGHT for Glyndebourne and subsequently for Nationale Reisoper, Xavier Dayer’s SONNET XXll with the Ensemble Contrechamps in Paris and Schnittke’s FAUST CANTATA  with the Basel Sinfonietta in Basel  and Zürich.  He also created the role of Angel in the world premiere of John Taverner’s APOCALPYSE.  Festival, concert and opera appearances include Edinburgh, Lufthansa Festival London, BBC Proms, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Innsbruck, Geneva, Salzburg, Wien Moderne, Karlsruhe Handelfest, Halle, Munich Opernfestspiele, Zürich Junifestwochen, Ravenna, Flanders, Bruges, Montpellier, Aix en Provence and Paris.   He has broadcast frequently for BBC television and radio, and on many of the European stations.  His many recordings include MESSIAH, XERXES, ARTAXERXES, ARIODANTE, Bach MAGNIFICAT, Vivaldi NISI DOMINUS, Peter Maxwell Davies’s RESURRECTION, Tippett THE ICE BREAK, GOLEM, and FLIGHT.  Video recordings include XERXES (ENO), Purcell HAIL, BRIGHT CECILIA (EMI), MY NIGHT WITH HANDEL (Channel 4 Films) and Dominic Scherrer’s HELL FOR LEATHER (DRS).

Engagements in 2012 include Satirino/Furia LA CALISTO for Frankfurt Opera, the world premiere of Reiserer’s PRESICENT JEKYLL in Munich and Edward Kelley DOCTOR DEE for English National Opera. Future performances include a return to Frankfurt.

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