Robert Tweten
Conductor Robert Tweten has been described as leading with “verve and precision,” as well as having “flawless” pacing, and having “musicality and near-symbiotic accord with singers which always impresses.” This past season he returned to Edmonton Opera for Tosca, to Utah Opera for Falstaff and to Lyric Opera of Chicago to cover performances of Verdi’s Macbeth, as well as visiting the Shenandoah University to conduct Street Scene. In the 2011-2012 season Maestro Tweten will return to Canada to conduct Fidelio with the Edmonton Opera, Il barbiere di Siviglia with Vancouver Opera, Gianni Schicchi and Pagliacci with Calgary Opera and Utah Opera for Verdi’s Rigoletto.
The 2009-2010 season saw him with Edmonton Opera for Rigoletto and Sarasota Opera for Die Zauberflöte. In the 2007-2008 season he led performances of Tosca for Opera Birmingham and Don Giovanni for Utah Opera. The Canadian native also returned to Canada to conduct Mozart’s Don Giovanni for Opera Ontario and Tosca for Vancouver Opera, and covered La traviata for Lyric Opera of Chicago.
Other recent engagements include Il barbiere di Siviglia for Opera Pacific, Calgary Opera and Madison Opera, La cenerentola with Austin Lyric Opera, and Jenůfa and Die Zauberflöte for Utah Opera. For the Santa Fe Opera, where he serves as Head of Music Staff, Mo. Tweten has conducted Don Giovanni, Le nozze di Figaro, Katya Kabanova, The Pirates of Penzance and Ermione, as well as their 50th Anniversary Concert in 2006. As a frequent Guest Conductor with the Santa Fe Symphony he has led them in orchestral concerts as well as in Handel’s Messiah and the Mozart Requiem. In recent summers, Robert served as cover conductor for Santa Fe Opera’s performances of Madame Butterfly and Albert Herring. He was recently seen conducting The Merry Widow at Opera Southwest, where he served as Principal Conductor and has also led productions of Falstaff and La traviata.
Maestro Tweten has been associated with several opera companies including: The Canadian Opera Company, where in addition to conducting he also served as Chorus Master and Head Coach, The Banff Center of Fine Arts where he was a conductor for the Musical Theater Studio Ensemble as well as a coach for the Opera and Musical Theater programs, and the Houston Grand Opera. He has led the Lyric Opera of Chicago Orchestra and singers of the Lyric Opera Center for American Artists in Rising Stars in Concert as well as conducted performances of Die Zauberflöte for Lyric Opera of Chicago where he serves as Assistant Conductor.
Robert Tweten began his career as a piano soloist after receiving his Associate of Arts Degree from the Victoria Conservatory of Music and winning such competitions as the Du Maurier Search for Stars and the Canadian National Piano Competition. Now equally at home as a recitalist as a conductor, Robert has performed with many of today’s most prominent singers including Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, Elizabeth Futral, Catherine Malfitano, Samuel Ramey, Gregory Turay, and Suzanne Mentzer in venues such as Alice Tully Hall at New York’s Lincoln Center, Chicago’s Orchestra Hall, the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, Toronto’s Ford Center, Los Angeles’ Disney Hall, Barcelona’s Gran Teatre del Liceu, La Monnaie in Brussels, the Zurich Opera House, Vienna’s Konzerthaus, London’s Wigmore Hall, and the Salzburg Festival.
