Robert Crowe, Male Soprano (USA/Berlin)

Robert Crowe, described by the New York Times as “a male soprano of staggering gifts“, is a member of perhaps the world’s smallest vocal category.  His education was completed at the Manhattan School of  Music, after receiving a master of music from Boston University School for the Arts and a bachelor of music, magna cum laude from Millsaps College.  In 1995 he was only the second countertenor(and first male soprano) to be a National Winner of the Metropolitan Opera Competition—having his professional debut as „Cherubino“ at the Des Moines Metro Opera in summer of that year.

Mr. Crowe has sung on many opera stages in the US and in Europe:  „Goffredo“ in Handel’s Rinaldo at the Bayerische Staatsoper, „Acomate“ in Hasse’s Solimano at the Staatsoper Unter den Linden in Berlin, the title role in Scarlatti’s  Massimo Puppieno with the Theatro Massimo in Palermo.  He has also performed leading roles at the Handel Festival of Halle, Nationaltheater Mannheim, Staatstheater Darmstadt, Handel Festival of Göttingen, Handel Festival of Karlsruhe, Early Music Festival of Utrecht, Mozart Festival of Warsaw, Early Music Festival of Connecticut, Festival of Two Worlds in Spoleto, Italy, Sans Souci Festival in Potsdam, Stadtstheater Basel, Landestheater Eisenach, Virginia Opera, Lake George Opera Festival, Millenial Arts Productions in NYC, among others.  He has worked with such conductors as René Jacobs, Ivor Bolton, Fabio Biondi, Andreas Spering, Michael Hoffsteter, Julius Rudel, Rheinhard Goebel, Marcus Creed, Lukas Meister, Ulrich Wagner and stage directors like Nicholas Broadhurst, David Alden, Eric Fraad, Peer Boysen, Phillip Kochheim, Sandra Leupold, Lillian Garrett-Groag, and Axel Köhler.

Robert performed in the 250th anniversary production of G.B. Ferrandini’s Catone in Utica  as Giulio Cesare in the Cuvillies Theater in Munich with Christoph Hammer, a critically acclaimed recording of which was released by Oehms Classics.  He can also be heard as Sesto in Handel’s Giulio Cesare on Koch International Classics, as well as La Victoire in an ORF recording of Pietro Torri’s La Triumph de la Paix. 

In March 2006 he sang the title role  in the world premiere fully-staged production of Nikolaus Schapfl’s Der Kleine Prinz, based upon Antione de Saint-Exupery’s beloved tale Le Petit Prince  at the Badische Staatstheater in Karlsruhe. In 2007 he entered for the first time the world of romantic Grand Opera in as the young Sièbel in the Staatstheater Darmstadt’s production of Gounod’s Faust, garnering critical and popular acclaim for his singing as well as his acting.

He is also an active concert singer, having performed in scores of performances of Handel’s Messiah, both as alto and soprano soloist, and  Bach’s b-minor Mass, recently as 1st and 2nd soprano soloist, as well as many other oratorii from the baroque period to the modern.  He made his professional solo debut as the countertenor soloist in Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms, the work with which he also made his Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center debut.  Mr. Crowe has also performed numerous extended solo works written for the soprano voice and organ, harpsichord, fortepiano, or orchestra and chorus.  Among these are:  Handel’s Laudate Pueri Domini and Ah! Che pur troppo è vero, Haydn’s  Arianna a Naxos, Carissimi’s Domine Deus, Mozart’s Exsultate Jubilate, Melani’s All’armi, Mentre di Tete in Segno, and Quai Bellicci Accenti, Strozzi’s Or che Apollo, JS Bach’s Jauchzett Gott in allen Landen, Domenico Scarlatti’s Salve Regina.  In addition he has performed several extended works from the more standard repertoire, including Schumann’s Dichterliebe, Beethoven’s An die ferne Geliebte, and Brahms’ Alt Rhapsodie. 

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