Nigel Robson

Nigel Robson is a British lyric tenor, known for his Baroque and twentieth-century operatic repertory. He is especially noted for his performances of music by Benjamin Britten. A student of Alexander Young and Gustave Sacher, he has performed at several of the important British, European, and Japanese music festivals. With a light, flexible, and warm voice, he brings a distinctive approach to the many Britten works written for the late Sir Peter Pears. Among the major Britten compositions he has sung in major venues are The Rape of Lucretia (Male Chorus), Billy Budd (Captain Vere), the War Requiem, Spring Symphony, the Serenade for tenor, horn, and strings; Curlew River (The Madwoman), and the title role of Peter Grimes. He is also known for his performance as Pandarus in Sir William Walton's Troilus and Cressida. Others of his roles are Bajazet in Rossini's Tamerlano, the Witch in Humperdinck's Hänsel und Gretel, Monteverdi's Il ritorno d'Ulisse in Patria, Laca in Janácek's Jenufa, the title role in Mozart's Idomeneo, and Septimius in Handel's oratorio Theodora. He has performed at the Welsh National Opera, Lisbon Opera, Opera North, the Grand Theatre of Tours, Glyndebourne, the Edinburgh Festival, the Almeida Opera Festival, the Orchestre National de Lille (where he sang in Bach's St. John Passion), St. Petersburg, Prague, Tel Aviv, Amsterdam, Paris, Milan, and Rotterdam. Concert appearances include performances of Schubert's Die schöne Müllerin, Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde, Stravinsky's The Wedding and Renard. Robson has worked with leading period instruments ensembles including The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and ensembles specializing in new music such as Ensemble Modern. He has sung in national or world premieres of Guo Wenjing's Wolf Cub Village, John Lunn's The Maids, and in a leading role as Chigyô in Maki Ishii's Tojirareta Fune (Das Schiff ohne Augen), as well as performed both leading roles in the double bill at Aldeburgh of Alexander Goehr's Noh drama-inspired chamber opera Kantan and Damask Drum.