Robert Swensen, a graduate of the University of Arizona and the University of Southern California, began his career as a member of San Francisco Opera’s Merola program and had fest contracts with the Staatstheater am Gärtnerplatz in Munich, the Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich, and with Staatsoper Unter den Linden in Berlin. He won first prize in the Concert Artists Guild International Competition, presenting his New York debut recital in 1987. He has received prizes in other competitions including Premio Giuseppe Borgatti Concorso, Italy, ARD Munich Competition, Walter Naumberg Competition, ‘s-Hertogenbosch in the Netherlands, Puccini Foundation, and George London Foundation. He also can be heard on the 1985 Grammy Award winning recording of Anthony and Cleopatra.

He made his Carnegie Hall debut as George Brown in Boieldieu’s La Dame Blanche with Renée Fleming and Opera Orchestra of New York under the direction of Eve Queler. He was a frequent soloist with the Mostly Mozart Festival in Lincoln Center, appearing in the title role of Il Sogno di Scipione by Mozart. Mr. Swensen can also be seen in Oedipus Rex – on a recording for Philips, and in the film for the PBS Great Performances series created by Julie Taymor eventually taking on the title role in productions in Montpelier, Naples, and at the Epidaurus Amphitheater in Greece with Gérard Depardieu. Other televised performances include the St. John Passion and the Weinachts-Oratorium with the Munich Collegium/Bayerischer Rundfunk.

International performances include Rossini’s Mosè for the Teatro La Fenice, Wagner’s Das Liebesverbot for the Wexford Festival Ireland, Mozart’s Die Entführung aus dem Serail for the Vienna State Opera, the title role in Stravinsky’s Oedipus Rex for the Teatro di San Carlo in Naples, the title role in Mozart’s Idomeneo for Antwerp Opera Belgium, Nadir in Bizet’s Les Pêcheurs de Perles for the Opéra Comique in Paris, Giannetto in Rossini’s La Gazza Ladra in Palermo, the title role in Mozart’s Mitridate at the Teatro Regio di Torino, and Il Sogno di Scipione, Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Die Zauberflöte, and L’elisir d’amore for the Bayerische Staatsoper Munich.

Mr. Swensen has appeared with 30 national and international orchestras in concerts that include Carmina Burana for the Munich Festival, Elijah at the Herkulessaal Munich, The Creation at Teatro dell’Opera di Roma, Giuseppe Sinopoli conducting, Schumann’s Das Paradies und die Peri for the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Rome with Wolfgang Sawallisch conducting, the Mozart Requiem in Cologne with Gary Bertini conducting, and as the Evangelist in the St. Matthew Passion at the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, with Nikolaus Harnoncourt conducting. A passionate enthusiast of song literature, Mr. Swensen was a frequent guest of Herman Prey in the Schubertiade performances in New York and Vienna.

In the United States, Swensen has appeared in Così Fan Tutte for Santa Fe Opera and Opera Pacific, Turandot for Arizona and Kentucky Operas, Il Barbiere di Siviglia for the New York City Opera tour, and in Don Giovanni and La Bohème for the San Francisco Opera’s Western Opera tour. Other contracts include A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Die Zauberflöte, Il Barbiere di Siviglia and Argento’s Postcard from Morocco for the Opera Festival of New Jersey, Sweeney Todd for Augusta Opera, The Elixir of Love for Madison Opera, and the Stage Manager for Lake George Opera’s professional premiere of Rorem’s Our Town.

A successful recording artist, his discography of 19 recordings for Deutsche Grammaphone, Phillips , RCA, Capriccio, EMI, and Teldec  includes Saint-Saëns’s Samson et Dalila Stravinsky’s Oedipus Rex, Oedipus Rex for Great Performances video on PBS, Schumann’s Das Paradies und die Peri, Haydn’s Orfeo, Gazzaniga’s Don Giovanni, Adam’s Le Postillon de Longjumeau, Spohr’s Faust, Orff’s Trionfo d’Afrodite , Mendelssohn’s Elijah, the Opera Singer in Werner Eck’s Yolimba ,  the Bach St. John and  tenor arias for the Christmas Oratorio .

He has served on the faculties of the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, the University of Arizona and has been an Eastman School of Music faculty member since 2001. His alumni and students have appeared with companies that include the Metropolitan Opera, Maggio Musicale in Firenza, Boston Early Music Festival, Paris Opera, Salzburg Festival, Carmel Bach Festival, Gardiner Monteverdi 450, the world tour of Einstein on the Beach, Santa Fe Opera, San Francisco Opera, Opera Saratoga, Portland Opera, Florentine Opera, the London and Broadway productions of Book of Mormon,  the Bayerische Staatsoper Munich, Oper Frankfurt, Opera Basel and many summer YAP programs. His students have also been first prize winners in the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions and the Lotte Lenya competition.