EbonyJet.com: 'The Basso Profundo', Morris Robinson, African American Opera Singer

Our friend Sergio Mims in Chicago sends us this interview recently published in EbonyJet.com:

Morris Robinson Interview

Friday, December 12, 2008

By Sergio A. Mims

“Few singers in the classical music world have made a bigger splash in recent years than bass Atlanta native Morris Robinson.

A graduate of The Citadel Military College in South Carolina where he was a football star, Robinson worked for a while as an executive at 3M before deciding to devote his rich voice to classical music. Since then he has quickly risen in the music world, making his mark in roles such as The Commodore in Mozart’s Don Giovanni, Sarastro in Mozart’s The Magic Flute, Ramfis in Verdi’s Aida and many other operas by Richard Wagner, Jean-Philippe Rameau, Hector Berlioz and Richard Strauss. Upcoming are concert recitals N.Y., Washington D.C., and Philadelphia and opera performances as Sarasto and Fasolt in Wagner’s Das Rheingold at the Los Angeles Opera.

“EbonyJet.com had an opportunity to talk to Mr. Robinson about several things including his career, how he prepares for a role, and what roadblocks he has encountered.  EBONY: First off, one thing that perhaps really annoys me is that people who don’t know much about classical music think that it’s stuffy, too difficult or something that you have to wear formal clothes to listen to. It’s just music after all.  ROBINSON: Classical music has always been considered as being for the aristocracy -- for those born with a silver spoon in their mouths and that’s simply not the case. I mean I was first drawn into classical music because… well first of all I love all kinds of music. I grew up playing the drums in church. I’m the son of a Baptist minster, the grandson of a Baptist minister. I’d been around church music all the time. But I also had this desire to hear different things and when I first heard classical music I was drawn to it. And how did I come to sing opera? I mean it came to me. I had this voice and I went to a high school of performing arts and was introduced to classical music then. And I took a liking to it. I kind of took naturally to it. And of course my voice being as it is, it doesn’t really fit into any other kind of music genre, so I was kind of led to this life so to speak.” [Full Post]