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Associate Professor (Vocal Arts) Office: 107 Music & Media Baritone Robin Buck has distinguished himself in Opera, Oratorio, Concert, Recital and Musical Theater, appearing in over 1000 performances of more than 45 roles (eight of them world-premieres) throughout the United States and Europe with opera companies including New York City Opera, Los Angeles Opera, Stadttheater Basel and Opernhaus Zurich in Switzerland, the National Theater of Mannheim and the Rhein-Main Theater Wiesbaden, Germany, among others. |
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Mr. Buck made his Carnegie Hall debut during it's centennial celebration as soloist with Sir Simon Rattle and the City of Birmingham Orchestra (U.K.) while on their first American tour and has appeared as soloist with orchestras and choral organizations including the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony, Pacific Symphony, Buffalo Philharmonic, Basel Sinfonietta, Radio Orchester Basel (Switzerland), Philharmonia Suddestska (Poland), Consortium Musicum Heidelberg, Tuebingen Sinfonietta (Germany) San Diego Symphony, the Los Angeles Master Chorale and the Springfield (MA) Symphony.
He has collaborated with conductors including Esa Pekka Salonen, James Conlon, Andrew Litton, Placido Domingo, Nicholas McGegan, Jorge Mester, Andrew Massey, Paul Sacher, JoAnn Faletta, Walther Weller, Kevin Rhodes, Monica Buckland-Hofstetter and Kate Tamarkin, and with stage directors including Jonathan Miller, Gordon Davidson, John de Lancie, Christoper Alden, David Alden, Herbert Wernicke, Tom O' Horgan and Werner Dueggelin.
An active recitalist, Mr. Buck is especially known for his interpretations of German Lieder and contemporary Art Song. Recent works written for him include Alan Terricciano's The Masque of the Red Death, for baritone and orchestra and Wonderland, a music theater song cycle based on poetry from Alice in Wonderland.
Favorite Operatic and Music Theater roles have included Mozart's Papageno, Don Giovanni, Guglielmo and Count Almaviva, Marcello in La Bohême, John Proctor in The Crucible, Silvio in Pagliacci, Dr. Falke in Die Fledermaus, Tartuffe, Scrooge, the title role in Lloyd-Webber's The Phantom of the Opera with an international cast in Switzerland and most recently Sondheim's Sweeney Todd .
Recent engagements have included selections from opera and Mahler's Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Strauss' Le Bourgouis Gentilhomme with the Chicago Symphony, Orff's Carmina Burana with the Traverse Symphony, Britten's Cantata Misericordiam with the Los Angeles Master Chorale, excerpts from Wagner's Tannhaueser and Lehar's The Merry Widow with LA Opera and selections from Mozart's operas with Traverse Symphony.
Mr. Buck has been mentored by some of the great artists, coaches and teachers of the 20th century, including Placido Domingo, Birgit Nilsson, Hans Hotter, Theodor Uppman, Natalie Limonick, Frans Boerlage, Gwendolyn Koldofsky, Herta Glaz, Ernset “Jack” Metz, Joan Dornemann and Kathleen Darragh.
Mr. Buck is an Associate Professor of Music, Director of Graduate Studies, and Artistic Director of UCI Opera. He teaches and directs at the Hawaii Performing Arts Festival, which attracts an international group of outstanding faculty and students each summer, performing opera, oratorio, music theater and concert works.
As a stage director he is known for innovative and imaginative productions including Mozart's The Magic Flute and Cosi fan Tutte, Purcell's Dido and Aeneas, Puccini's Gianni Schicchi, Menotti's The Medium and The Telephone, Gilbert & Sullivan's Trial by Jury, Strauss' Die Fledermaus as well as numerous opera scenes programs for UC Irvine, Chapman University, the Opera Institute at California State University Long Beach, the Hawaii performing Arts Festival, SongFest and the Academie de Musique in Sion, Switzerland. He is in demand as a panelist, clinician and adjudicator for organizations including the Metropolitan Opera National Council, Opera America and the National Opera Association.