Robin Blaze

Countertenor

• Biography
• Reviews
• Repertoire
• Photos
• Diary

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  Robin Blaze is now established in the front rank of interpreters of Purcell, Bach and Handel, and his career has taken him to concert halls and festivals in Europe, North and South America, Japan and Australia.  His opera engagements have included Athamas Semele at Covent Garden; Didymus Theodora for Glyndebourne Festival Opera; Arsamenes Xerxes, Oberon A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Hamor Jephtha for English National Opera; and Bertarido Rodelinda at the Göttingen Handel Festival. 

  He works with many distinguished conductors in the early music field: Harry Christophers, Emmanuelle Haïm, Philippe Herreweghe, Christopher Hogwood, Ton Koopman, Paul Goodwin, Gustav Leonhardt, Robert King, Nicholas Kraemer, Sir Charles Mackerras, Trevor Pinnock and Sir John Eliot Gardiner. His work with Masaaki Suzuki and the Bach Collegium Japan has been particularly praised by critics: the two latest CD releases, Bach’s B Minor Mass and the three solo countertenor cantatas, have been described as “heart-stopping” in Gramophone.

  Robin Blaze is represented worldwide by Ben Rayfield at Rayfield Allied.
  This biography is for information only and should not be reproduced.

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  • Purcell Dido and Aeneas (Sorceress), International Wimbledon Music Festival,
    St John The Baptist Church, Wimbledon (November 2012)

    Lastly Robin Blaze: it is hard to find enough superlatives to describe this voice, but he had the necessary evil in his character and his voice was nonetheless beautiful. In the aria “Our next motion”, the top Gs were the best I have ever heard and the word-painting on “bleeds” was superb. Countertenors are often too quiet or overpowering, but none of this with Robin Blaze; he must be one of the leading countertenors of the time.

    Billie Hylton, bachtrack.com

  • BBC Radio 3 Record Review “Building a Library”,
    Edition on the Matthew Passion (Broadcast on 7 April 2012)

    That aria, Erbarme Dich has been championed by many countertenors, and on the 1999 Bach Collegium Japan recording, it’s sung with humility and carefully judged timbral control by Robin Blaze. I apologise to commuters on the 08.47 from Didcott to Paddington on the 20th March: the tears were because I was listening to this... [plays aria]...The kaleidoscope of colours that Blaze brings to the vocal line is thoroughly beguiling.

    Jeremy Summerly

  • Bach Cantatas Vol. 50, Bach Collegium Japan/Suzuki,
    BIS-SACD1941 (March 2012)

    countertenor Robin Blaze is on particularly fine form, effortlessly entwined with Gerd Türk above a fruity bassoon in BWV 149, and stealing hearts in BWV 174

    Paul Riley, BBC Music Magazine (5 star review)

    Robin Blaze brings his usual elegance and instinctive phrasing to the long lines of the opening aria of the same cantata [BWV174], warming the ends of the sustained notes with some judicious vibrato and offering plenty of projection without any hardening of tone

    Simon Heighes, International Record Review

  • Handel Messiah, Tafelmusik/Ivars Taurins, Koerner Hall Toronto
    (December 2011)

    The soloists that Tafelmusik chose for the occasion were, to say the least, an impressive group. All four brought strengths to the performance, including clear diction, solid technique and an admirable sense of period style…English countertenor Robin Blaze took to Handel’s roulades very much in stride, with his supple and agile voice. In But Who May Abide and other solos he sang with an innocent, cherub-like quality that was quite charming

    Colin Eatock, The Globe and Mail

    Further adding to the Messianic magic was a power quartet of soloists: soprano Karina Gauvin, countertenor Robin Blaze, tenor Rufus Müller and baritone Brett Polegato. They each, in their own way, sang as if their lives — and souls — depended on every note and word being true

    John Terauds, Toronto.com

  • Handel Messiah, Minnesota Orchestra/Nicholas Kraemer
    Orchestra Hall Minneapolis (December 2011)

    Robin Blaze was a standout, especially on the stark and sorrowful ‘He was despised’

    Rob Hubbard, Pioneer Press

  • Bach Cantatas Vol. 48, Bach Collegium Japan/Suzuki,
    BIS-SACD1881 (July 2011)

    Blaze’s vocal style and approach to Bach have matured considerably. His poised and beautifully wrought performance of this aria [...] is simply enchanting…Blaze’s lilting aria [...] is very attractive…Blaze’s flexibility allows him to overcome Bach’s florid coloratura in his aria with aplomb

    Christopher Price, International Record

  • German Sacred Music, Lufthansa Festival of Baroque Music,
    St John’s, Smith Square, London May 2011

    Earnest fugues and sober Protestant chorales are what we expect from German composers, but as the evening concert at St John's Smith Square reminded us, a warm Italian breeze was blowing northwards at this time. There were quite a few operatic moments in this programme of German sacred music, alongside some delicious dance rhythms and violin duets. All this was captured with unforced, easy energy by counter-tenor Robin Blaze… a winningly unfussy singer.

    Ivan Hewett, The Telegraph

    a challenging, absorbing and uplifting recital... The concert concluded with one man and a lute, in Krieger's plaintive, eloquently despairing reflection on solitude An die Einsamkeit rendered by Robin Blaze with clear, plaintive, eloquent despair.

    Bachtrack

  • Hong Kong City Hall - Bach Collegium Japan
    Bach Cantatas BWV 72, 159, 127, 147

    Suzuki had a commanding group of vocal soloists; the fact that they’ve collaborated before ensured familiarity with both the music and Suzuki’s working style. Stepping forward from the chorus for solo spots, Hana Blazikova (soprano), Robin Blaze (countertenor), Gerd Turk (tenor) and bass Peter Kooij sang to crystalline effect, with never a hint of ego obscuring the music', 'the selection of cantatas gave the countertenor most of the limelight. Blaze responded superbly with a musicality that was all the more powerful for its restraint: Ich folge dir nach from Sehet, wir gehen hinauf (BWV159) was truly affecting

    Sam Olluver , South China Morning Post

  • Bach Cantatas Vol. 47, Bach Collegium Japan/Suzuki
    January 2011

    ...in BWV27, such is the ringing paradise of the fragrant oboe d’amore and obbligato harpsichord that Robin Blaze’s sprightly and generous singing leaves us relishing the prospect of our passing, as much as embracing ‘the valuable treasure’ of Christ’s imminent arrival.

    Jonathan Freeman-Attwood, Gramophone Vocal Reviews

    Blaze is totally at ease duetting with oboe da caccia in BWV27.

    George Pratt, BBC Music Magazine Choral&Song Choice

    ...the movement is handled with exceptional sensitivity...They [Blaze, Balzikova and Mizukoshi] bring to their asides a deeply lyrical sincerity...they hover powerfully between recitative and almost aria.

    Simon Heighes, International Record Review

  • Pergolesi Stabat Mater, Salve Regina, Florilegium
    (Channel Classics 29810 July 2010)

    Beauty and technical ease combine in a performance that captures Pergolesi’s subdued reverence. Manahan Thomas’ and Blaze’s voices are a brilliant match. ‘Qui est homo’ sums it up: perfect vocal blending, breathtaking control and a delivery that simulates tearful sorrow.

    Classic fM

    Elin Manahan Thomas, Robin Blaze and Florilegium phrase it beautifully, bringing just the right amount of weight to tension and release. In the fourth section, “Quae morebat”, the pringly rhythm in the strings is skillfully picked up and developed by Blaze.. Excellent performances all round.

    Classic fM

    countertenor Robin Blaze never has sounded better, his timbre warmly resonant, his technique fluid and effortless, his intelligence and thoughtful interpretive manner on impressive display

    Classics Today

    ...a clean but characterful countertenor (...) intimacy with delicacy (...) Blaze takes a resolutely unsentimental approach – poised, intense and often quite husky.

    International Record Review

    (...) Both singers are intensely sensitive(...) Blaze displays his wide and even vocal range in the Salve Regina, particularly effective in the lowest register, sustaining a full-toned falsetto without any hint of gear-change to bass

    BBC Music Magazine

• Robin Blaze Concert

  Ades

  • The Lover in Winter

  Bach

  • Christmas Oratorio
  • Cantatas (All)
  • Magnificat
  • St Matthew Passion
  • St John Passion

  Castello

  • Exultate Deo

  Grandi

  • Amo Christum
  • Ave Maris Stella

  Handel

  • Messiah
  • Saul

  Marini

  • Jesu, Dulcis Memoria

  Monteverdi

  • Iam Moriar

  Rigatti

  • Cum Invocarem

  Rovetta

  • Salve Regina

  Robin Blaze Opera

  Britten

  • A Midsummer Nights Dream (Oberon)

  Handel

  • Jeptha (Hamor)
  • Ottone
  • Rodelinda (Bertarido)
  • Teseo (Arcane)
  • Semelen (Athamus)
  • Theodora (Diddymus)
  • Xerxes (Asrsmenes)

• Photos

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    photographer credit: Dorothea Heise

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    photographer credit: Dorothea Heise

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    photographer credit: Dorothea Heise

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    photographer credit: Dorothea Heise

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    photographer credit: Dorothea Heise

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