The American baritone, Robert Mellon, obtained his Bachelor of Music degree in Music Education and Music Performasnce from SUNY Potsdam (2004-2009); and his Master of Music degree in Vocal Performance from Manhattan School of Music in New York (2009-2011). He participated in the Young Artist program of Opera Maine (2011, 2012, 2014, 2015); Gerdine Young Artist program of Opera Theatre of Saint Louis (2014, 2015); and Middlebury College German Program (2017).
Robert Mellon was acclaimed by Opera News for having “excellent comic timing,” and a “domineering baritone, gleaming like polished copper.” In 2018-2019 season, he performed in the world premiere of Dear Erich with New York City Opera and as Leporello in W.A. Mozart's Don Giovanni with Syracuse Opera. He also sang Bernardo in Leonard Bernstein's West Side Story with Shreveport Opera. He has performed leading roles with Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, The National Sawdust Festival, and the Peoria Symphony, and was a guest artist with Manhattan School of Music and Rutgers University. Other roles include Figaro in W.A. Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro, the title role in Falstaff, Sam in in L. Bernstein's Trouble in Tahiti, and Macbeth in the USA premiere of Ernest Bloch’s Macbeth. Concert work includes the W.A. Mozart and Maurice Duruflé Requiems, Dvorak’s Te Deum, Igor Stravinsky’s Pulcinella, Rossini’s Petite Messe Solennelle, J.S. Bach's Magnificat in D major BWV 243 (Westchester Oratorio Society, 2015), and Mussorgsky’s Songs and Dances of Death.
The 2019-2020 season included company debuts with Opera de Oviedo as Simone in Eine Florentinische Tragödie and Tonio in Pagliacci; the title role in Gianni Schicchi and Simone in Eine Florentinische Tragödie with Livermore Valley Opera, about which the San Francisco Chronicle wrote, “Baritone Robert Mellon was both the musical star of the performance and its dramatic vertex…with a steely vocal edge that never interfered with the beauty and flexibility of his singing.” He reprised the roles of Papageno in W.A. Mozart's Die Zauberflöte with Opera Maine and Don Alfonso in W.A. Mozart's Così fan tutte with Syracuse Opera.
In 2020-2021 season, Robert Mellon debuted the roles of Schaunard in La bohème with San Diego Opera; Malatesta in Don Pasquale with Opera Las Vegas; and Figaro in Il barbiere di Siviglia with Union Avenue Opera. For the 2021-2022 season he will be debuting the roles of Marcello in La bohème and Gubetta in Lucrezia Borgia with Opera de Oviedo; and will make his Pensacola Opera debut reprising the role of Papageno in Die Zauberflöte. |