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The Canadian baritone, Michael Robert-Broder, has been trained principally under the guidance of Bruce Pullan, and Gary Relyea.
Michael Robert-Broder has established himself as one of Canada’s most versatile young baritones. Equally at home with art song, oratorio, and opera, he has gained a reputation for engaging performances that perfectly join poet's text with composer’s music, with the dramatic essence of a piece.
Described as “smooth mellifluous baritone of a Gerald Finley or a Hermann Prey” (barczablog.com - Fidelio), he has specialized in the performance of German language opera and lieder above all else. As Faninal in Der Rosenkavalier he “sang an impressive “Ein ernster Tag, ein grosser Tag” (ludwig-van.com) and as Jochanaan he gave “a stunningly lyrical reading of this role…singing a smoothly lyrical line throughout, putting out a fabulous wall of sound from time to time, always on pitch and never harsh sounding.” (barczablog.com). In his portrayal of Nabucco he “sang solidly and with emotional range too.” (operaramblings.blog), as Dr. Falke he was praised for his “warm baritone” (Opera Canada), and in his premiere of The Ecstasy of Rita Joe he “fashioned a brilliantly conflicted Magistrate, stern and compassionate, cynical and resigned” (operagoto.com)
Oratorio performances include Requiems by W.A. Mozart, Gabriel Fauré, and Maurice Duruflé, major works by J.S. Bach, George Frideric Handel's Dixit Dominus and Israel in Egypt that found him in “a rich, mature voice.” (Georgia Straight). He has performed many bass solos in J.S. Bach's cantatas through the Church of the Redeemer: Bach Vespers series (Director: Daniel Norman).
As a strong advocate of contemporary music, Michael Robert-Broder has been invited to première a number of pieces in the past year. Among them was Cameron Wilson’s The Oratorio to end all Oratorios, the role of The Jester in George Austin’s The King Who Wouldn’t Sing, and a concert of excerpts from Timothy-Benton Roark’s dramatic cantata based on the writings of W.B. Yeats, Crazy Jane. He has presented recitals of staged “non-dramatic” works, which have included scenes from Goethe’s Wilhelm Meister, using the art songs of L.v. Beethoven, Schubert, Robert Schumann, and Wolf.
On the lyric stage, Michael Robert-Broder has recently portrayed the roles of l’hotelier, and un marchant d’elixir in Massenet’s Manon, Sprecher in W.A. Mozart's masterpiece Die Zauberflöte, Bob in Menotti’s The Old Maid and the Thief, Ben in Menotti’s The Telephone, and Il Conte in W.A. Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro.
Recent engagements include Donizetti’s Don Pasquale and L’elisir d’amore, J.S. Bach's Johannes-Passion BWV 245, Johannes Brahms's German Requiem, Schubert’s Schwanengesang and Die Schöne Müllerin, G.F. Handel's Athalia and several recitals of German, French and American Cabaret music. Upcoming engagements include G.F. Handel's Messiah, Béla Bartók's Bluebeard’s Castle, Benjamin Britten's Noye’s Fludde, Dvořák's Jakobin, Pasatieri’s The Seagull, W.A. Mozart's Don Giovanni and Le Nozze di Figaro, and Verdi's Nabucco (Calgary Concett Opera (2024). He currently lives in Toronto, Ontario. |
