Twyla Robinson

As an opera singer, Twyla Robinson has won particular acclaim for her portrayals of Mozart heroines. During the 2006-2007 season, Ms. Robinson sang Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni at San Francisco Opera, and Donna Anna with New York City Opera and Florida Grand Opera. She has also appeared at Florida Grand Opera as Arminda in La finta giardiniera and the Countess in Le nozze di Figaro, a role she repeated at New Orleans Opera and sang in concert on the stage of the San Francisco Opera. Other roles she has performed include Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte, Alice Ford in Falstaff, and the title roles of Arabella and Susannah. She is a winner of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions.

In high demand for concert performances, Ms. Robinson regularly performs with top orchestras in the US and Europe. She made her debut with the Los Angeles Philharmonic under Esa-Pekka Salonen in Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, which she has also sung with the San Francisco Symphony, Charlotte Symphony, Seattle Symphony, and Cleveland Orchestra.

A frequent soloist with the Cleveland Orchestra, her recent appearances have included Strauss’ Four Last Songs, Alice Ford in Verdi’s Falstaff, as well as Verdi’s Requiem. Ms. Robinson appeared as soprano soloist in Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 for opening concerts of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra’s 2005-2006 season and with the Baltimore Symphony under Yuri Temirkanov. She was heard with the Milwaukee Symphony under John Nelson in the world premiere of Gil Shohat’s The Songs of Bathsheba and in Brahms’ Ein deutsches Requiem, which she also performed with the San Francisco Symphony under Michael Tilson Thomas. She has appeared with the Houston Symphony to sing Mahler’s Das klagende Lied and Britten’s War Requiem. She has had numerous performances of works by Handel, including the title role in Agrippina with Boston Baroque, Alexander’s Feast with the Choral Arts Society in Washington, D.C., and The Messiah with San Antonio Symphony.

Twyla Robinson’s European debut was with Lisbon’s Gulbenkian Orchestra and John Nelson in Schumann’s Scenes from Goethe’s Faust. Ms. Robinson joined the London Symphony Orchestra under Bernard Haitink as soprano soloist in Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 at London’s Barbican Center and New York’s Avery Fisher Hall in 2006. She returned to Berlin for performances of Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 with the Berlin Staatskapelle under Pierre Boulez, which was recorded for Deutsche Grammophon. Ms. Robinson joined the West German Radio Orchestra and Semyon Bychkov for concert performances of Strauss’s Elektra and Daphne, both of which were recorded for release on Decca Records. She made her Lincoln Center debut at Avery Fisher Hall singing Brahms’ Ein deutsches Requiem with the Dresden Philharmonic and Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos. She also sang Richard Strauss’ Four Last Songs with Staatstheater Nurnberg, and Mahler’s Das klagende Lied with the Rotterdam Philharmonic under Vladimir Jurowski.

Equally active as a recitalist, Ms. Robinson sang Mahler’s Des Knaben Wunderhorn in 2002-2003 as part of San Francisco Opera’s Song Recital Series, followed by four solo recitals under the auspices of the Marilyn Horne Foundation, including her New York recital debut at Merkin Concert Hall. Her Carnegie Hall debut was on February 1, 2004, when she joined Marilyn Horne and other world-renowned artists in a gala concert celebrating the venerable mezzo-soprano’s 70th birthday. Ms. Robinson has also sung recitals at the University of Denver’s Newman Center, London’s Wigmore Hall, and Spivey Hall in Atlanta.