BIOGRAPHY
Bass Robert Ellsworth Feng is acclaimed for having a “commanding darkness and thickness to his tone,” and is a born collaborator who performs with artists of all mediums.
Robert is the recipient of the George Woodhead Prize in Voice and the Peabody Career Development Award, placed second in the New York Classical Music Society International Voice Competition, and third in the Lyra Mozart International Voice Competition.
Performance highlights include Die Zauberflöte (Sarastro) and Le nozze di Figaro (Bartolo) with Manhattan Opera Studio, La sonnambula (Count Rodolfo), Così fan tutte (Don Alfonso) and I Capuleti e i Montecchi (Capellio) with Opera Alchemy, Tobias Picker’s Emmeline (Pastor Avery) with Manhattan School of Music, La traviata (Dottore Grenvil) and Les pêcheurs de perles (Nourabad) with Thomas Muraco’s Opera Repertoire Ensemble, La favorite (Balthazar) with NY Opera Forum, Prince Igor (Khan Konchak) with Russian Opera Workshop, Le nozze di Figaro (Bartolo) with Berlin Opera Academy, Die Zauberflöte (Speaker) with Chicago Summer Opera, and Massenet’s Chérubin (Le Philosophe) with Peabody Conservatory. Not limited to performing standard repertoire, Mr.Feng has premiered new works including Tony Small’s operetta Qadar, Nicholas Bentz’s opera Having Guests for Dinner, Nick Peros’ monodrama Lamentation of Ruin, and most recently with Christman Opera in their Voices Rising Voices series.
Prior to the COVID-19 outbreak, Robert was set to perform the roles of Rev.Joseph Twichell in the world premiere of Robert Carl’s opera Harmony with Seagle Music Colony, Professor Mendoza in Pamela Stein's new opera The Interaction Effect with American Opera Projects, and Mícha in Bronx Opera's production of The Bartered Bride. During the months of quarantine, Robert has been involved with Social Distance Opera's production of Street Scene as Henry Davis, Penny Prince's production of Wonderful Flight to the Mushroom Planet with Lehman College, Seagle Music Colony as an Emerging Artist, and has been honored to be a featured artist for Tony Small's Virtual Masterclass series for the Boys & Girls Club of Greater Washington.
Robert received his Bachelors degree at Peabody Conservatory under the tutelage of William Sharp, and his Masters degree at Manhattan School of Music under the tutelage of Mark Oswald. Later this Fall, Robert will perform the role of Il Commendatore in Kor Productions’ livestream of Don Giovanni, and Ko-Ko in Hawaii Opera Theatre’s outreach production of The Mikado.
