Charles Robert Stephens – Past Concerts

Charles has enjoyed a career spanning a wide variety of roles and styles in opera and concert music. His performances have shown "a committed characterization and a voice of considerable beauty." (Opera News, 1995) At the New York City Opera he sang the role of Professor Friedrich Bhaer in the New York premiere of Adamo's Little Women, and was hailed by the New York Times as a "baritone of smooth distinction." Other New York City Opera roles since his debut as Marcello in 1995 include Frank in Die Tote Stadt, Sharpless in Madame Butterfly, and Germont in La Traviata. He has sung on numerous occasions at Carnegie Hall in a variety of roles with the Opera Orchestra of New York, the Oratorio Society of New York, the Masterworks Chorus, and Musica Sacra.

Now based in Seattle, Charles has sung with the Seattle Symphony, Tacoma and Spokane Symphonies and Opera Companies, Portland Chamber Orchestra and many other orchestras and opera companies in the Pacific Northwest. He joined the roster of the Seattle Opera in 2010 for the premiere of Amelia by Daron Hagan.

Recent collaborations with early music expert Stephen Stubbs include the role of Haman in Handel's Esther with Pacific Musicworks as part of the Seattle Handel Festival, Messiah with Portland Baroque and the role of Tiresias in the Boston Early Music Festival's lavish production of Steffani's Niobe, Queen of Thebes. A long association with Maestro Gary Thor Wedow has recently led to two performances with the Seattle Symphony: Messiah and "Opera Festival."