Biography
David Robinson is retired from Southwestern Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas, where he served as the James C. McKinney Professor of Church Music and chair of the voice department. He taught at William Jewell College in Liberty, Missouri from 1976 to 1985 before moving to Fort Worth. He holds the Bachelor of Music Education and the Master of Music in Voice from West Texas State University (now West Texas A and M University) in Canyon, Texas, and the Doctor of Musical Arts in Voice from Southwestern Seminary. He studied opera with Arthur Schoep and Boris Goldovsky.
Robinson has performed several major operatic roles and is an active recitalist, oratorio soloist, and concert artist. In addition to awards in other competitions, he was the second place winner in the National Association of Teachers of Singing Artist Awards in 1986. He made his New York concert debut at Avery Fisher Hall in Lincoln Center with the American Symphony Orchestra, performing the baritone solos in the Mozart C Minor Mass, and the Ralph Vaughan Williams Five Mystical Songs. Robinson has appeared in the title role of Mendelssohn's Elijah with the Fort Worth Camber Orchestra conducted by Donald Neuen. He has appeared as guest soloist at Lamar University in Beaumont, Texas in a performance of Verdi's Requiem. Mr. Robinson has also been heard in a performance of Haydn's Creation, conducted by Roger Wagner. Robinson participates in multiple performances of Messiah each season. Appearing with the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, he has performed the baritone solos in Requiem by Brahms, Walton's Belshazzar’s Feast, Beethoven's Ninth Symphony and Verdi's Requiem. He has performed recitals in Fresnillo, Mexico with Hector Guzman, conductor of the Plano Symphony, as well as in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Robinson appeared in performances of Orff's Carmina Burana with the Texas Ballet Theater. He has appeared as soloist with the Dallas Symphony. Recent performances include Beethoven's Ninth Symphony and Mahler's Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen with the Allentown Symphony Orchestra, Elijah and Messiah in Houston, Texas, St Paul, in Birmingham, Alabama, Messiah, with the Orquesta Filarmónica de Jalisco, in Guadalajara, Mexico, and a return to Avery Fisher Hall, where he premiered Peace Ascends, by Stephen P. Johnson. Robinson is a member of the National Association of Teachers of Singing and has been named to Outstanding Young Men of America, International Who's Who of Music, Personalities of the Americas, and Who's Who Among America's Teachers. Robinson and his wife Glenda reside in Fort Worth, Texas. |
But it was baritone J. David Robinson who made the greatest impression in this performance, producing several high points, beginning with a display of miraculous lung power in his first aria, and in the powerful crescendo in the final phrase of his second aria, 'But Who May Abide?'” |