Robert Strauss |
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Robert Strauss, tenor Robert Strauss has been praised not only for his attention to musical and textual nuance in his singing, but also for his wonderful sense of comic timing, and so he is thrilled to be returning to the role of King Kaspar in this production. Other favorite operatic performances include Pedrillo (Die Entführung aus dem Serail), Prologue/Peter Quint (The Turn of the Screw), Mayor Upfold (Albert Herring), and Federico in L’amico Fritz with the Centro Studi Italiani Opera Festival. On the concert stage, he has sung the tenor solos in The Creation, Messiah, Mozart’s Requiem, Britten’s St. Nicolas and Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings and performed Rossini’s Messa di Gloria in the composer’s hometown of Pesaro, Italy. No stranger to the musical theatre repertoire, he performed in the revue Finding a Way Back, with local performers Chandra Downs and Don Kot, and in the last decade has portrayed Jesus (Godspell!), Anthony Hope (Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street), Archibald Craven (The Secret Garden) and most recently Simeon/Butler in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, for which he learned to play accordion. An avid recitalist as well, he has presented, with Benton Hess, the programs Seasons in Song and The Recital That Dare Not Speak Its Name. The program Inner Voices for mezzo-soprano and tenor, premiered last year in North Carolina. Strauss is just as comfortable behind the production table as well, having served as assistant stage director for Mercury’s production of Il barbiere di Siviglia. He stage directed the inaugural production of Amahl and the Night Visitors for Mercury, having also directed area productions of Seussical, the Musical, Dido and Aeneas, Trial by Jury, The Turn of the Screw, and the NY premiere of Felice by Benton Hess. Strauss currently teaches at Nazareth College and the Eastman Community Music School, having also served on the faculties at SUNY Fredonia and the University at Buffalo. |