VICTOR ROBERTSON
TENOR
BIOGRAPHY
Victor Ryan Robertson is an American musical artist distinguished by the compass and color of his tenor voice; he navigates genres comprising classical, contemporary, pop, and Broadway to deliver inspiring and thrilling performances on both opera and theatrical stages. His discography includes the soundtrack of the Netflix original film “Rustin”, music by Branford Marsalis, Verdi’s La traviata, as Alfredo with Victory Hall Opera, Carly Simon’s Romulus Hunt with Nashville Opera on the Lexicon Classics label, and Anthony Davis’ X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X as Elijah/Street, recorded for commercial release by Boston Modern Orchestra Projects and nominated for a 2023 GRAMMY® Award.
Last season, he joined Seattle Opera as Tamino in Die Zauberflöte, Fort Worth Opera as Ramiro in La Cenerentola, and Opera Theatre of St. Louis as Uncle Perry in the world premiere of Ricky Ian Gordon and Lynn Nottage’s This House. He also sang in recitals for Seattle Opera, Fort Worth Opera, the University of Michigan, Sun Valley Opera and Broadway, and joined Portland Opera as CJ in the workshop of Will Liverman, DJ King Rico & Rajendra Ramoon Maharaj’s The Factotum. This season, Mr. Robertson returns to Detroit Opera to perform in their double bill of William Grant’s Highway 1, USA as Nate and Brack Weaver in Kurt Weill’s Down in the Valley as well as sings Alfedo in La traviata with Kentucky Opera. He also joins Bodhi Tree Concerts as the Coyote in their world premiere production of Anthony Davis’ Pancho Rabbit and the Coyote, returns to Sun Valley Opera for a Benefit concert, and performs as a soloist in Victory Hall Opera’s Gullah Meditations.
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His newest project, Gullah Meditations, a collaboration with pianist, composer and Georgia native Adrianne Duncan, premiered at St. Helena, SC's historic Penn Center supported by the Mellon Foundation. While performing at the 2016 Spoleto Festival, Victor was given an out-of-print edition of sheet music of little-known 19th-century Gullah Geechee spirituals from the islands off the coast of his home state of South Carolina. Along with Duncan, he set the a cappella melodies to music that reflected their backgrounds in opera, jazz and classical music. This contemporary take on spirituals from the rich Gullah Geechee culture will help preserve and bring forward this profoundly moving music to a new and wider audience. Gullah Meditations returned this past fall to the Penn Center Heritage Festival and will also be recorded for commercial release.
Victor made his Metropolitan Opera début as Raoul in their new production of The Merry Widow, and in the same year, he made his Broadway début as Piangi in The Phantom of the Opera. Recent successes also include Mr. Robertson’s return to The Metropolitan Opera as Elijah and Street in Anthony Davis’ influential opera X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X, a role he previously performed for Detroit Opera and Opera Omaha. Other notable engagements include Sportin’ Life in Porgy and Bess for a co-production between Opera Carolina and North Carolina Opera, the Governor/Vanderdendur /Baron/Ragotski in Candide and Delbert Grady/Stuart Ullman in Paul Moravec and Mark Campbell’s The Shining for The Atlanta Opera, and the role of Raymond Santana in Anthony Davis’s The Central Park Five at Portland Opera. He also played the tenor (Tony) in Terrence McNally’s Master Class with Arizona Theatre Company. Recent concert appearances include the Soundflight 3 concert with Victory Hall Opera; Men of Broadway and Broadway Under the Stars concerts with Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra; and Gershwin and Friends with Ipswich River Community Chorus in North Reading, MA
Victor has sung his signature role, Count Almaviva in Il barbiere di Siviglia, at Minnesota Opera, Detroit Opera, Manitoba Opera, Portland Opera, Arizona Opera, Opera Carolina, Sarasota Opera, Coeur D’Alene Opera, Toledo Opera, and with Santa Cruz Symphony. Previous engagements have also included Tonio in La fille du régiment with Lyric Opera of Kansas City, Ramiro in La Cenerentola and the title role in Roméo et Juliette at Spoleto Festival, Roméo in Roméo et Juliette at Arizona Opera and The Atlanta Opera, Fenton in Falstaff at Cleveland Lyric Opera, Nemorino in L’elisir d’amore at Kentucky Opera, the title role in Les contes d’Hoffmann at Dallas Opera, Nadir Les pêcheurs de perles at Toledo Opera, Rinuccio in Gianni Schicchi at Opera Carolina, Alfredo La Traviata at Orlando Opera, and the world premiere of Castor and Patience by Gregory Spears, in the role of Nestor, at Cincinnati Opera. Other significant highlights include the title role Candide at Opera National de Lorraine in France, Rinaldo in Armida with Virginia Opera, a role he previously sang in the UK’s prestigious Garsington Opera Festival, the title role Orpheus at New York City Opera, Sportin’ Life in Francesca Zambello’s production of Porgy and Bess on tour worldwide, and Rodolfo in Zambello’s La bohème at Royal Albert Hall in London.
With a natural ability for contemporary music, Victor inaugurated the role of Benny “Kid” Paret in Terence Blanchard’s celebrated Champion in its world premiere at Washington National Opera and later revived the role at Detroit Opera and at Opera de Montreal. He appeared as Hosea Williams in Douglas Tappin’s I Dream, a piece based upon a series of dreams, reminiscences and premonitions leading up to a fateful moment in modern American history—the assassination of Dr Martin Luther King.
In his off-Broadway début, Victor joined the cast of Three Mo’ Tenors at the Little Schubert Theatre and remained with the show when it toured the US and played in Scotland at the Edinburgh Festival, in Moscow, the Dominican Republic, and at the UK’s Henley Festival. He made his professional début in Baz Luhrmann’s La bohème at the Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles in a record 82 sold-out performances, for which he won the coveted Ovation Award.
Current as of June 17, 2025
CRITICAL ACCLAIM
"...Victor Ryan Robertson has a beautifully lyric tenor voice, which he used flawlessly..." – Opera News
Falstaff – “Victor Ryan Robertson has a beautifully lyric tenor voice, which he used flawlessly as Fenton. The Act III aria was true Verdian bel canto. His ardent and rapturous duets with Anya Matanovic, his Nannetta were delightful moments of amorous repose in a sea of turmoil.”
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"...Robertson’s clear tenor voice gave us a strong operatic experience and his character work was a stand out..." – DC Theatre Scene
Champion – “Robertson’s clear tenor voice gave us a strong operatic experience and his character work was a stand out as the cocky and homophobic Benny Paret.”
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"...one waits in eager anticipation between his appearances.” – The Post and Courier
Porgy and Bess – "Victor Ryan Robertson, donning a bright pink suit, plays Sportin’ Life with panache. His flexible tenor voice is so appealing and effective, one waits in eager anticipation between his appearances."
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"...stole the show..." – Santa Cruz Sentinel
Il barbiere di Siviglia – "Victor Ryan Robertson as Count Almaviva, however, stole the show. His acting ability was great. He is very much a crossover artist being internationally acknowledged for his operatic roles while being totally comfortable in musical theater."
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"...His singing was both controlled and attractive..." – Opera News
Don Giovanni – “Victor Ryan Robertson was an unusually forceful Don Ottavio – this youth seemed quite capable of avenging his fiancee’s wrongs. His singing was both controlled and attractive, making one regret that ‘Dalla sua pace’ had been cut.”