Charles Robert Stephens

Baritone

Charles Robert Stephens’s career spans a wide variety of roles and styles in opera and concert music.  His performances show “a committed characterization and a voice of considerable beauty.” (Opera News)  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.”   Since his debut as Marcello in La Bohème, Mr. Stephens’ New York City Opera roles include Frank in Die Tote Stadt, Sharpless in Madama Butterfly, and 43 performances as Germont in La Traviata on tour across the US.

Mr. Stephens has sung on numerous occasions at Carnegie Hall in a variety of roles with the Oratorio Society of New York (St. Matthew Passion), the Masterworks Chorus (Messiah), and Musica Sacra (Lord Nelson Mass). Carnegie Hall performances with Opera Orchestra of New York have included roles in Otello, Lucrezia Borgia, and Adriana Lecouvreur.   

Mr. Stephens’ many operatic roles include Rigoletto (National Theater of Taiwan), Amonasro (El Paso Opera), Germont (Montevideo, Uruguay and Minnesota Opera), Rodrigo (Boston Bel Canto), Count di Luna (Boston Bel Canto), Gianni Schicchi (Buffalo Opera), Tonio ( Di Capo Opera), Enrico (Connecticut Opera), Sharpless (National Theater of Santo Domingo), the Barber in Figaro (Hawaii Opera) and many others, with leading opera companies throughout the U.S. and abroad.

Memorable engagements include the role of the blind Tiresias in Niobe, Queen of Thebes with the Boston Early Music Festival, Scarpia in Tosca and Rigoletto in Spokane, Belcore, Sharpless and Escamillio with the Helena Symphony, Britten’s Cantata Misericordia in Tacoma and Seattle, Verdi’s Requiem in Philadelphia, Messiah with the Santa Fe Symphony, Portland Baroque Orchestra, and the Seattle Symphony, Vaughan Williams Sea Symphony with the Tacoma Symphony, The High Priest in Samson and Delilah in Birmingham and the Bach St. John Passion with Portland Baroque and the Northwest Sinfonietta. 

Festival appearances include performances at the Lake Placid Center for the Arts, the Methow Chamber Music Festival, the Spoletto Festival, Whidbey Island Music Festival and the Bellingham International Festival. Mr. Stephens appeared on CUNY TV in New York City as a featured artist with “Regina Resnik Presents.”

Notable engagements include Elijah with Seattle Pro Musica and Portland Chamber Orchestra, Carmina Burana with the Hartford Symphony, Haydn’s Creation with the North Carolina Symphony and Opening Night 2014 with the Seattle Symphony. 

Past seasons included performances of the Monteverdi Vespers with Pacific Musicworks, Messiah with Tacoma Symphony and Bellevue Ballet, Brahms Requiem in Missoula and Olympia, the title role in Rigoletto with Northwest Lyric Opera, Bach B Minor Mass with Seattle Pro Musical, Haydn’s Mass in Time of War with the Northwest Sinfonietta and Don Alfonso in Cosi fan tutte with City Opera Bellevue.

Last season brought performances of Beethoven’s 9th Symphony with the Yakima and Spokane Symphony, Messiah in Helena, Tacoma and Vashon Island, the world premiere of John Muhlheisen’s Passion of Rudyard Kipling with Choral Arts, Jeffrey L. Moidel’s Four Love Sonnets with the Lake Union Civic Orchestra, Mozart’s Requiem with Northwest Sinfonietta and various recitals and chamber music concerts in the Seattle area. 

Mr. Stephens maintains an active voice studio in Seattle and teaches voice at PLU.