Peter Robinson

Biography

Peter Robinson was born in the North-East of England and studied music at Oxford‚ where he was Organ Scholar of St. John’s College. He began his operatic career as Chorus Master at Glyndebourne‚ followed by several years as Resident Conductor and Head of Music Staff for the Australian Opera at the Sydney Opera House. 

From 1981-1989 he was Assistant Music Director of ENO‚ where his repertoire included The Mastersingers of Nuremburg‚ Otello‚ Rigoletto‚ Carmen‚ Orfeo‚ Hansel & Gretel‚ The Turn of the Screw‚ and all the major Mozart operas.

Since 1987 he has been invited back to Australia regularly as guest conductor for all the major opera companies and symphony orchestras, working with The Australian Opera (Orphee, Cosi fan tutte) the Victoria State Opera (Le nozze di Figaro, La Boheme, Die Entfuhrung), Opera Queensland (La boheme, Madama Butterfly, Turandot, La Traviata, Andrea Chenier, Romeo et Juliette) the State Opera of South Australia (Don Giovanni, Die Zauberflote, Otello.La Boheme) and West Australian Opera (Carmen, Lucia di Lammermoor, Romeo et Juliette, Le nozze di Figaro).

He has also appeared in Canada‚ Mexico‚ Hong Kong and Italy and conducted for Scottish Opera‚ Kent Opera English Touring Opera and Opera Factory London. For television he has conducted Jonathan Miller’s productions of The Mikado and Cosi fan tutte and‚ for Channel 4‚ The Marriage of Figaro.

In the concert hall‚ he has conducted most of the major British orchestras‚ including the LSO‚ LPO‚ RPO‚ Hallé and BBC Philharmonic‚ and appears regularly in concerts and broadcasts with the BBC Concert Orchestra.

Since 1998 he has conducted many performances of Madam Butterfly‚ Tosca‚ Aida and Carmen at the Royal Albert Hall. In recent seasons he has appeared in concert with the Queensland‚ Royal Philharmonic‚ Bournemouth Symphony and Northern Sinfonia Orchestras. Most recent engagements include Die Zauberflöte with Opera Zuid in Holland‚ L’amore dei tre re‚ Rigoletto‚ Fidelio‚ Luisa Miller, Andrea Chénier, La Gioconda and Un Ballo in maschera with Opera Holland Park‚ and Falstaff with Scottish Opera.

He is Artistic Director of British Youth Opera for whom he has conducted The Rake’s Progress, La Rondine, Albert Herring‚ Eugene Onegin‚ Roméo et Juliette‚ The Magic Flute The Rape of Lucretia.

He is a Professor at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama‚ and teaches and coaches singers regularly at the National Opera Studio and the Royal Academy of Music.