Among the most compelling singing actresses of our time, Roberta Alexander enjoys international renown for her riveting, incisive characterizations, miraculous vocal and dramatic range.
She recently performed the role of Curra in Christoph Loy’s production of La Forza del Destino at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden in 2019, and at Dutch National Opera in 2017. With Patrice Chéreau she created the role of Fünfte Magd in his legendary production of Elektra at the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence in 2013. Since then, she has revived the role at the Metropolitan Opera in 2016, at Teatro alla Scala in 2018, and at the Staatsoper unter den Linden, Berlin in 2019. In 2020 she rehearsed the role of Ein Page der Herodias in Salomé in a new production for Teatro alla Scala by Damiano Michieletto, led by Riccardo Chailly, before the performances had to be postponed due to Covid-19.
In the 2023/24 season, she returns to the Berliner Staatsoper as Fünfte Magd, and will focus on roles such as Marcellina in Le Nozze di Figaro, Madame de Croissy in Les Dialogues des Carmélites and Ms Sedley in Peter Grimes.
As well as performing, teaching and masterclasses remain an important part of her daily life, as passing on her expertise to the next generation of young singers is a significant purpose for her. She offers a broad range of classes for Young Artists Programmes, drawing on her 45 years of stage experience.
She teaches at the Conservatory of Amsterdam, and has recently given masterclasses in London at Wigmore Hall, at Guildhall School of Music & Drama, and at BBC Cardiff Singer of the World Competition.
In 2020, she was awarded the Edison Classical Oeuvre Prize for her lifetime achievements.
Roberta Alexander was reared in a musical family. She studied at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor from 1969 to 1971, receiving M. Music in 1971. She made her operatic debut at Dutch National Opera in 1975 in La cambiale di matrimonio. By 1984 she had been part of no fewer than 26 productions at Dutch National Opera. She appeared as Pamina at the Houston Grand Opera in 1980, as Daphne in Santa Fe in 1981, and as Elettra in Idomeneo in Zürich in 1982. Following a tour of Europe, she made a successful debut at the Metropolitan Opera in New York as Zerlina in November 1983.
Among the operatic heroines, she has unforgettably portrayed are the title role of Janacek's Jenufa (a Glyndebourne production), Mimì in Puccini's La Bohème, and especially the great Mozart heroines: Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte, Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni and Vitellia in Mozart's La Clemenza di Tito, the latter a major success with both the public and the press at the Glyndebourne Festival. In addition, she has performed principal roles at New York's Metropolitan Opera, the Royal Opera House/Covent Garden, and the major Houses of Berlin, Hamburg, Vienna, Zurich and Venice, in Philadelphia and at New York's Carnegie Hall.
Equally esteemed as an orchestral soloist, Roberta Alexander recently enjoyed particular success performing Ravel's Shéhérazade with André Previn and the NDR Sinfonieorchester, telecast throughout Europe. She has also performed with the Vienna, London and Royal Philharmonics; Royal Concertgebouw, Philadelphia, Cleveland and Bavarian Radio Orchestras; Cincinnati, Atlanta and Dallas Symphonies; and collaborated with such distinguished conductors as Vladimir Ashkenazy, Andrew Litton, Bernard Haitink, Sir Colin Davis, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, James Levine, Zubin Mehta, Carlo Maria Giulini, Leonard Slatkin, Jesus Lopez-Cobos, Edo De Waart and David Zinman. She recently reunited with Seiji Ozawa and the Boston Symphony Orchestra for Mendelssohn's Midsummer Night's Dream and Tchaikovsky's Romeo & Juliet and the rapturously-received world premiere of Kirchner's Of things exactly as they are. In addition she sang Copland's In the Beginning with Michael Tilson Thomas conducting the San Francisco Symphony.
An uncommonly communicative recitalist, Roberta Alexander has offered acclaimed programs at New York's Carnegie Recital Hall, the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, the Vienna Musikverein, London's Wigmore Hall and the Amsterdam Concertgebouw. An especially ardent and persuasive interpreter of American masterworks, her latest recordings include Songs My Mother Taught Me and With You (the latter an anthology of Broadway songs).
Roberta Alexander's voluminous discography on the Etcetera, Philips, Sony, Teldec and BMG reflects her astonishing mastery of varied vocal styles: songs by Barber, Mozart, Bernstein, Ives, Copland, Strauss, Castelnuovo-Tedesco, Puccini and Villa-Lobos; Handel's Giulio Cesare, Apollo e Daphne, Samson and Theodora; Mozart's Don Giovanni and Idomeneo; and such rarities as Goldschmidt's Der Gewaltige Hahnrei and Beatrice Cenci, Heppener's Four Songs of Ezra Pound and an Edison-winning recording of Andriessen's Songs with Orchestra.
