Robin Fisher
~Soprano~
Robin Fisher, lyric coloratura soprano, has performed to critical acclaim in such cities as Paris, Vienna,
Prague, Hamburg, Chicago and Dallas. Press reviews remark on her “amazingly precise coloratura,
melting diminuendi, splendid high notes and delightful musicality” (Opernwelt) and her “mature timbre
and total self-assurance…. an extremely exciting singer-actress” (Westdeutsche Zeitung).
Most recently, Ms. Fisher presented a solo performance of music from the salon of author Jane Austen
as part of the series “How Austentatious!” at the Sacramento Public Library. On the opera stage, she
appeared as Susanna in Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro with Sacramento Opera (February 2009), and as
Pamina in The Magic Flute with Townsend Opera Players (January 2009). In concert, she was the
soprano soloist in Elijah with the U.C. Davis Symphony and Chorus (March 2009), and in an all Bach
concert with the Sacramento Choral Society & Orchestra (March 2009), and was a featured soloist in a
late-Renaissance program with Sex Chordae Consort of Viols (March 2009).
Ms. Fisher edited The Selected Writings of John Duke, published in 2007 by Scarecrow Press. She is
currently co-editing a new edition of the 3-volume work, American Art Song & American Poetry to be
published in 2011, with a foreword by Thomas Hampson.
In 2008, Robin Fisher performed Bach's Motet Jauchzet Gott in allen Landen with the Yakima
Symphony Orchestra in Washington. She was invited to perform the Dvorak Mass in D with the Napa
Valley Chorale and a Broadway concert with the Bear Valley Music Festival. Ms. Fisher appeared as
Hannah Glawari with West Bay Opera in their 2007 production of The Merry Widow and with
Sacramento Opera as Frasquita in Carmen. Ms. Fisher appeared on tour in Europe with the Sacramento
Choral Society & Orchestra performing works by Haydn and Dvorak in the cities of Munich, Prague,
Vienna and Budapest. At the Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts (Davis, CA) in Mendelssohn's
Lobgesang Symphony, the Sacramento Bee critic found “Soprano soloist Robin Fisher was
thrilling…(2004)” Other performed oratorio repertoire includes Mozart's C-minor Mass and Requiem,
Haydn's Creation, Handel's Messiah, Fauré's Requiem, as well as works by Bach and Schubert with the
Vienna Chamber Orchestra and the Chicago Chamber Orchestra. She was a featured soloist in the North
American premiere of works by Spanish composer Francisco Courcelle with the Orchestra of New Spain
in Dallas.
Ms. Fisher's many recital appearances in both Europe and the United States attest to her love for the art
song. She has recorded chamber works for flute and soprano with Laurel Zucker (The Nightingale
Sings), and a compact disc recording of sacred American art songs in collaboration with pianist Dalton
Baldwin was issued in 2003 (God be in my Heart). National Public Radio broadcast an interview and
concert excerpts in 2002 from her lecture-recital series “Poetry and Music in the American Art Song.”
Austrian Radio recorded her world premiere performance of several avant-garde works from the Styrian
Fall Festival. Swiss Radio invited Ms. Fisher to record Mozart lieder accompanied by fortepiano for
broadcast during a Mozart festival.
Ms. Fisher won both the prestigious Fulbright-Hayes Scholarship and a Rotary Foundation Award to
pursue studies in Europe, and received the coveted Artist's Diploma cum laude from the University of
Vienna. She holds a D.M.A. degree from the University of Texas at Austin. A native of California, she
began her vocal studies at San José State University. Her students have won many competitions and are
active performers and teachers throughout the United States. Ms. Fisher is currently Associate Professor
of Voice at Sacramento State University in California.
updated 01/11