Opera Singer Morris Robinson Makes Debut with Los Angeles Philharmonic Wednesday, October 23, 2013 in 'ZAPPA: 200 Motels'

Morris Robinson: Going Home
Decca 2007

John Malveaux of www.MusicUNTOLD.com writes:

Morris Robinson is in Los Angeles to judge regional Metropolitan Opera Competition and make his debut with Los Angeles Philharmonic on Wed. Oct 23rd during ZAPPA: 200 Motels (world premiere). See http://www.laphil.com/philpedia/morris-robinson

 

John Malveaux

www.musicuntold.com

Los Angeles Philharmonic
Morris Robinson is quickly gaining a reputation as one of the most interesting and sought after basses performing today.

A graduate of the Metropolitan Opera Lindemann Young Artist Development Program, Mr. Robinson made his debut at the Metropolitan Opera in their production of Fidelio. He has since appeared there as Sarastro in Die Zauberflöte (both in the original production and in the children’s English version), Ferrando in Il Trovatore,  the King in Aida, and in roles in Nabucco, Tannhäuser, and the new productions of Les Troyens and Salome. He has also appeared at the San Francisco Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Dallas Opera, Houston Grand Opera, Florida Grand Opera, Pittsburgh Opera, Opera Philadelphia, Seattle Opera, Los Angeles Opera, Cincinnati Opera, Boston Lyric Opera, Opera Theater of St. Louis, Vancouver Opera, Wolf Trap Opera, and the Aix-en-Provence Festival. His many roles include Sarastro in Die Zauberflöte, Osmin in Die Entführung aus dem Serail, Ramfis in Aida,  Sparafucile in Rigoletto, Commendatore in Don Giovanni, Grand Inquisitor in Don Carlos, Timur in Turandot, the Bonze in Madama Butterfly, Padre Guardiano in La Forza del Destino, Ferrando in Il Trovatore, and Fasolt in Das Rheingold.

Also a prolific concert singer, Mr. Robinson has appeared with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (in Chicago and at the Ravinia Festival), Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra, Houston Symphony, L’Orchestre Symphonique de Montreal, Ft. Worth Symphony Orchestra, Baltimore Symphony (in Baltimore and at Carnegie Hall), Met Chamber Orchestra, Nashville Symphony Orchestra, São Paulo Symphony Orchestra, New England String Ensemble, and at the Ravinia, Mostly Mozart, Tanglewood, Cincinnati May, Verbier, and Aspen Music Festivals. He also appeared in Carnegie Hall as part of Jessye Norman’s HONOR! Festival. In recital he has been presented by Spivey Hall in Atlanta, the Savannah Music Festival, the National Academy of Sciences in Washington, DC, the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.
Mr. Robinson’s first album, Going Home, was released on the Decca label.
This season, Mr. Robinson makes his debuts at Australian Opera as Sarastro and the Boston Lyric Opera as Sparafucile, and returns to Opera Philadelphia for his role debut at Zaccaria in Nabucco and the San Francisco Opera as Joe in Show Boat.
An Atlanta native, Mr. Robinson is a graduate of The Citadel and received his musical training from the Boston University Opera Institute.

insideOut

In May 1970 at UCLA’s Pauley Pavilion, Zubin Mehta led the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Frank Zappa & The Mothers of Invention in the world premiere of Zappa’s Concerto for Mothers and Orchestra. Zappa incorporated some of that music into the score for his surrealistic band-on-the-road film 200 Motels, released the following year, as was a soundtrack double album featuring the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and narrator Theodore Bikel, as well as the Mothers. Zappa was often frustrated with orchestras, but his music was gradually embraced by the classical world, particularly as championed by Pierre Boulez. (Boulez also conducted the LA Phil in a concert that was also part of the same Contempo ’70 mini-festival that featured Zappa’s Concerto.)