| Biography | Nigel Robson was born in Argyleshire and studied with Alexander Young and Gustave Sacher. He is well established as one of Britains most versatile lyric tenors with an operatic and concert repertoire ranging from Monteverdi to the most contemporary of compositions, and is particularly well known for his interpretations of Britten. In 2010 he enjoyed a huge success in Idomeneo for La Monnaie, with English Touring Opera in Goehrs Promised End and also performed in a staging of Bernsteins Mass in Munich. Most recently he was in a production of Ulysses for English National Opera at The Young Vic in London, as well as takig on the role of Sacerdote/Idomeneo for the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, and Arbace/Idomeneo for Grange Park Opera.
Other operatic engagements have included Bajazet/Tamerlano in Drottningholm; the title role in Peter Grimes for the Nationale Reisopera in Holland; Captain Vere/Billy Budd for the Canadian Opera Company; The Witch/Hansel and Gretel; Laca/Jenufa and Captain Vere/Billy Budd for Welsh National Opera; the title role in Il Ritorno dUlisse in Patria in Lisbon and for Opera North; the title role in Idomeneo at the Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich; Male Chorus/The Rape of Lucretia at the Grand Théâtre de Tours; Pandarus/Troilus and Cressida for Opera North; The Madwoman/Curlew River for Opera Factory; Septimus/Theodora for Glyndebourne; Golo in Schumanns Genoveva for Garsington Opera; Madernas Venetian Journal and Satyricon for the Opera de Nancy in France and the Flanders Opera in Belgium, and Death in Venice at the Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires.
Concert appearances have included Madernas Venetian Journal with Peter Eotvos in Amsterdam; Bachs St John Passion with the Orchestre National de Lille; Judas Maccabeus in Berlin; Jephtha with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment; Brittens Spring Symphony with the Rotterdam Philharmonic; Stravinskys Renard in Paris with Sir Simon Rattle; Britten Serenade with the Philharmonia, Bournemouth Sinfonietta and Britten Sinfonia; Das Lied von der Erde with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales; Brittens War Requiem in St Petersburg, Prague, Tel Aviv and Madrid; Elgars Dream of Gerontius in Bratislava and Aarhus; Die Schöne Mullerin in recital in Sheffield, and concerts with the Nieuw Ensemble in Amsterdam, Paris, Lisbon, Milan and at the Edinburgh and Huddersfield International Festivals.
He premiered a project entitled The Tenor Mans Story, which is very close to his own life and opened the 2005 Enschede Festival in Holland. At its centre is a poem written by his father about returning to Campbeltown, Scotland to see the grave of his sister Christine who died there, aged two. The form of the work is a multimedia recital with integrated audio and visual projections using the works of Britten, Dufay, Cage and the Beatles, as well as piano improvisations by Howard Moody and audio compositions of his own.
Nigel Robsons recordings include Handels Tamerlano, Jephtha and Alexanders Feast (Gardiner/Phillips Classics); Monteverdis Orfeo, Poppea and Vespers 1610 (Gardiner/Deutsche Grammophon Archiv); Tippetts Songs for Dov (Tippett, Scottish Chamber Orchestra/Virgin Classics); Stravinskys Renard (Rattle/Sony Classics); Mozarts Idomeneo/Arbace (Gardiner/Deutsche Grammophon Archiv); Brittens The Rape of Lucretia/Male Chorus (Hickox/Chandos Records); Waltons Troilus and Cressida/Pandarus (Hickox/Chandos Records); Delius Mass of Life (Hickox/Chandos Records), ); Janacek Jenufa/Laca (Sir Charles Mackerras/Chandos), and a dramatic TV film of Brittens Abraham and Isaac for Dutch TV directed by Pierre Audi. |