Robert Mellon, Baritone
2012 Season Role:
"Colas" in Mozart's
Bastien and Bastienne
BIOGRAPHY
In July 2012 Robert Mellon performed Prince Yamadori and covered Sharpless in PORTopera’s production of Madama Butterfly. From August 2011 through April 2012 he was a resident artist with Shreveport Opera, performing Cascada in The Merry Widow, Escamillo in La Tragédie de Carmen, and Prince Yamadori and the Imperial Commissioner in Madama Butterfly. He also covered Sharpless in the latter production. In March 2012 Mellon made an appearance with Opera Hispánica in a benefit concert of arias and songs. In October 2011 Mellon sang Mussorgsky’s Songs and Dances of Death in a performance with the Manhattan School of Music Symphony under conductor George Manahan. The New York Times reviewer wrote that he “sang with characterful flair and myriad shadings, imbuing the somber texts with poignancy and dramatic vigor in equal measure.”
As a member of PORTopera’s Young Artist Program in the summer of 2011, he sang the role of The Man in the world premiere of Café Vienna by Richard Pearson Thomas. In the company’s mainstage production, La Fille du Régiment, he performed the role of the Corporal and covered Sulpice.
In his graduate work at the Manhattan School of Music (2009-2011), Mr. Mellon studied with Dona Vaughn, Mignon Dunn, and Thomas Muraco. He sang the roles of Figaro (Le Nozze di Figaro), Falstaff (Falstaff), Tío Sarvaor (La Vida Breve), Rev. Winemiller (Summer and Smoke), and Eumée (Pénélope). During the summer months he worked with Dolora Zajick at the Institute for Young Dramatic Voices in Provo, Utah, and Joan Dornemann at the International Vocal Arts Institute in Blacksburg, Virginia. In 2011 he won first prize in both the prestigious Eisenberg and Fried Concerto Competition and the Ades Vocal Competition at the Manhattan School of Music.
Mr. Mellon received his B.M. in vocal studies from the Crane School of Music at SUNY Potsdam, studying with Kathleen Allen, Carleen Graham, and Kirk Severtson. He performed the roles of Gianni Schicchi (Gianni Schicchi), Apollo (L’Egisto), and Ivan in a world premiere of Paul Siskind’s Sailor Boy and the Falcon. Mr. Mellon was also a soloist with the Orchestra of Northern New York and the Crane Symphony Orchestra in the Duruflé Requiem, the Polar Express, the Bach Magnificat, and the world premiere of Sing by Gregory Wanamaker. While a student at the Crane School of Music, Mr. Mellon performed in summer programs in Aveiro, Portugal, Sayville, New York, and the Altamura Center for the Arts in Roundtop, New York. His roles included Robert Misson in The New Moon, and Leporello in Don Giovanni.
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