Christopher Robson

Christopher Robson is one of the leading countertenors on the European stage and recital scene. His operatic debut was in 1981 with the English National Opera. He has sung with the leading opera houses of Europe, including the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, the Scottish Opera, Opera North, the Opera Factory, the Glyndebourne Festival Opera, the Houston Grand Opera, the Chicago Lyric Opera, the New York City Opera, the São Paolo Opera of Brazil, the Kiev Opera, and the Bolshoi Theater Opera in Moscow. He has been regularly associated with the Bavarian State Opera in Munich since 1994, and in 1997 was awarded an Opera Festival Prize from the State Opera for his work with them. He is as active on the recital and concert stage as he is in opera, often appearing in joint recitals with his brother, the tenor Nigel Robson; the composer John Lunn has written music featuring both of them. His most frequent recital program partner is pianist Petra Ronner. Christopher Robson's repertory covers the entire range of countertenor roles from the early Middle Ages to the present day. His roles include the title characters in Handel's Julius Caesar and Philip Glass' Akhnaten; Arsamene in Handel's Xerxes and Polinesso in the same composer's Ariodante; Oberon in Britten's A Midsummer Night's Dream; Arnalta in L'incoronazione di Poppea; Orlofsky in Johann Strauss Jr.'s Die Fledermaus; and the roles of Edgar and Poor Tom in Aribert Reimann's Lear.