Robinson, Faye
Robinson, Faye
Robinson, Faye , prominent black American soprano; b. Houston, Nov. 2, 1943. She studied at Bennett Coll. in Greensboro, N.C., Tex. Southern Univ. in Houston, and North Tex. State Univ. in Denton. After winning 1st prize in the San Francisco Opera Auditions, she made her debut as Micaëla in Carmen at the N.Y.C. Opera on Sept. 2, 1972; was on its roster until 1979. She appeared with opera companies in Houston, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, San Diego, and Washington, D.C.; also sang widely in Europe and appeared frequently at the Aix-en-Provence Festival from 1974; was a guest artist with the Paris Opéra, the Vienna State Opera, the Hamburg State Opera, the Frankfurt am Main Opera, the Bavarian State Opera in Munich, and others. She was also active as a concert artist. Her operatic roles include Donna Anna, Pamina, Constanze, Elvira in I Puntani, Gilda, Liù, Violetta, the 4 principal soprano roles in Les Contes d’Hoffmann, and Gounod’s Juliette; also sang in the premiere of Tippett’s The Mask of Time (Boston, April 5, 1984).
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire