Robbie Raso
Baritone

Baritone Robbie Raso is a graduate of the AJ Fletcher Opera Institute at University of North Carolina School of the Arts, the Eastman School of Music, and the Carnegie Mellon School of Music. Most recently, he performed the roles of Angelotti  in Puccini’s Tosca and Luther Billis in Logan and Hammerstein’ South Pacific with Toledo Opera. He will be returning next season for Morales in Bizet’s Carmen, and Belcore in Donizetti’s L’elisir D’amore with Toledo Opera. Past performances include Chevreuse in Maria di Rohan and Marcaniello  in Lo frate ‘nnamurato at UNCSA.  This coming summer he debuts the Salzburg Festival as Curio in Handel’s Giulio Cesare and also joins the festival as a member of their Young Artist Project.

In the summer of 2023, Mr. Raso performed the roles of Enrico in Lucia di Lammermoor and Dandini in Rossini’s La Cenerentola with Mediterranean Opera Festival in Caltagirone, Sicily. Other recent performance highlights include Jack Absolute in The Rivals, Rodomonte in Haydn’s Orlando paladino, and Zebul in Handel’s Jeptha at UNCSA; Johannes “Pa” Zegner in Proving Up, Rapunzel’s Prince in Sondheim’s Into the Woods, and Ophèmon in L’amant anonyme at Eastman; and Count Almaviva Le Nozze di Figaro, Count Robinson in Cimarosa’s Il matrimonio segreto, and Papageno in Mozart’s The Magic Flute at Carnegie Mellon University. He also originated the role of Border Guard in ID, Please at the Tête-à-Tête Opera Festival in London in 2017. In addition to singing, Mr. Raso is also an instrumentalist, playing jazz and classical trombone.

“Joan Martin-Royo represents what is most exciting in belcanto matters today. The Catalan native imposes a Taddeo worthy of the best Italian comedy. He is not content, like many others in this role, with his vis comica. On the contrary, he sings with a sonorous baritone over the entire range required, defying the difficulties heaped up on this score, as much in the recitatives as in his aria “Ho un gran peso sulla testa” from which he delivers us a perfect interpretation.”  – Théãtre du Capitole, L’italiana in Algeri – Classic Toulouse, Robert Pénavayre

Joan Martín-Royo
Baritone

Joan Martín-Royo’s career embodies the operas of Mozart and Rossini including recent performances of Figaro in Le Nozze di Figaro (Liceu Barcelona/Champs-Elysées, Paris), Guglielmo in Così fan tutte (Palau de les Arts Reina Sofia, Valencia/Théâtre des Champs Elysées/Oviedo and Liceu Barcelona), and Masetto in Don Giovanni (Opéra de Monte Carlo). He has performed Papageno in the Barrie Kosky production of Die Zauberflöte in Perth, Aukland, the Teatro Real and at the Opera di Roma, as well as productions at the Gran Teatre del Liceu with Dudamel, at Ópera de Oviedo, and for Teatro Municipal, Santiago. His Rossini highlights include Dandini in La Cenerentola (Glyndebourne), Lord Sidney in Il Viaggio a Reims (La Monnaie), Macrobio in La Pietra del Paragone (Théâtre du Châtelet/Teatro Regio di Parma,) Figaro in Il barbiere di Siviglia (Théâtre des Champs-Elysées), Taddeo in L’italiana in Algeri (Théâtre du Capitole de Toulouse) and Don Parmenione in L’occasione fa il ladro (Barcelona).

During the 2021-2022 season he was heard as Papageno with Ópera Nacional de Chile and with the Gran Teatre del Licue, Belcore with the Teatre Principal de Palma, Horemhab in Akhnaten with Opére Nice Côte d’Azur, Schaunard and Conte de Almaviva with the Teatro Real de Madrid, Apollo in Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo in Palma, and Avi Castellet in Martínez Valls Cançó d’amor i de guerra in concert in Barcelona.

Recent highlights include Rodomonte in Haydn’s Orlando Paladino (Châtelet, Paris), Colombo in Carnicer’s Cristoforo Colombo (Teatro de la Maestranza, Sevilla), Albert in Werther (Ópera de Las Palmas / Festival Mozart A Coruña), Marcello in La Bohème (Komische Oper Berlin), Ned Keene in Peter Grimes (Santiago, Chile, Mr. Astley in Prokofiev’s The Gambler (Liceu Barcelona), and Mercutio in Roméo et Juliette (Teatro Real conducted by Michel Plasson).

Mr. Martín-Royo is also in demand for his portrayals of contemporary opera. Highlights include creating the roles of surrealist painter Salvador Dalí in Xavier Benguerel’s Yo, Dalí (Teatro de la Zarzuela, Madrid/ Teatro Liceu), Walt Whitman in García Demestres’ WOW! (Festival Castell de Peralada, Girona), Pedrosa in Mariana en sombras by G. Demestres (Granada), Mercader in Salvador Brotons’ El mercader de somnis (Winterthur Auditorium, Barcelona), the world première of García Demestres’ oratorio Contes, tirallongues, jocs i colors and the European première of Daniel Schnyder’s The revelation of St. John (both at the Auditori de Barcelona).

Included in his recording credits are Ànima with the Orquestra Simfònica del Gran Teatre del Liceu and DVD releases of La pietra del paragone for Naïve and the BBC’s production of Janácek’s The cunning little vixen under Kent Nagano