Biography
Soprano Robin Johannsen relocated to Europe at the outset of her professional life, collaborating there with leading specialists in Baroque opera, above all René Jacobs and the Freiburger Barockorchester.
A native Philadelphian, she completed a B.A. at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh and an M.A. at the University of Cincinnati; unlike many singers who reach the highest levels, she did not follow an extended program of postgraduate study and master classes, a circumstance one conductor credited with giving her a distinct edge. Following limited engagements in the United States, she received the Alberto Vilar Scholarship from the American Berlin Opera Foundation in 2002 and moved to Germany, where she soon joined the permanent ensemble of the Deutsche Oper Berlin and began to gain broader notice. Conductor Christian Thielemann invited her to the Bayreuth Festival, where she sang the Young Shepherd in Wagner’s Tannhäuser and then appeared for five seasons as the Forest Bird in Siegfried. Between 2005 and 2007 she returned repeatedly to the Leipzig Opera in leading soprano parts. After her first appearance on disc in a 2006 recording of Leonard Bernstein’s Candide, she took part three years later in Thielemann’s complete cycle of Wagner’s Ring operas.
Encouraged since her student years to explore Baroque opera with her agile voice, Johannsen shifted to a freelance career focused on that repertory beginning with the 2007–2008 season. She quickly established herself in the field, and after several contributions to Baroque opera recordings she made her solo debut in 2014 on the Harmonia Mundi label with the recital Caldara: In dolce amore, accompanied by the Academia Montis Regalis under Alessandro De Marchi. An early advocate, De Marchi was one of several conductors—including Marin Alsop, Teodor Currentzis, and Ottavio Dantone—who have engaged her regularly, along with Jacobs and the Freiburger Barockorchester. She has performed at major theaters such as the Theater an der Wien, Oper Frankfurt, and, on multiple occasions, the Komische Oper Berlin, and she frequently appears with prominent period-instrument ensembles including the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin and Belgium’s B’Rock. Johannsen has also returned periodically to the United States for engagements with the Pittsburgh, Dallas, and Cincinnati Symphony Orchestras. She continued to record for Harmonia Mundi until 2020, when she moved to PentaTone Classics for a recording of Telemann’s seldom-heard opera Miriways with the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin. In 2022 she was featured on Harmonia Mundi in Jacobs’s unconventional yet widely praised account of Bach’s Mass in B minor, BWV 232, again with the Freiburger Barockorchester.
A native Philadelphian, she completed a B.A. at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh and an M.A. at the University of Cincinnati; unlike many singers who reach the highest levels, she did not follow an extended program of postgraduate study and master classes, a circumstance one conductor credited with giving her a distinct edge. Following limited engagements in the United States, she received the Alberto Vilar Scholarship from the American Berlin Opera Foundation in 2002 and moved to Germany, where she soon joined the permanent ensemble of the Deutsche Oper Berlin and began to gain broader notice. Conductor Christian Thielemann invited her to the Bayreuth Festival, where she sang the Young Shepherd in Wagner’s Tannhäuser and then appeared for five seasons as the Forest Bird in Siegfried. Between 2005 and 2007 she returned repeatedly to the Leipzig Opera in leading soprano parts. After her first appearance on disc in a 2006 recording of Leonard Bernstein’s Candide, she took part three years later in Thielemann’s complete cycle of Wagner’s Ring operas.
Encouraged since her student years to explore Baroque opera with her agile voice, Johannsen shifted to a freelance career focused on that repertory beginning with the 2007–2008 season. She quickly established herself in the field, and after several contributions to Baroque opera recordings she made her solo debut in 2014 on the Harmonia Mundi label with the recital Caldara: In dolce amore, accompanied by the Academia Montis Regalis under Alessandro De Marchi. An early advocate, De Marchi was one of several conductors—including Marin Alsop, Teodor Currentzis, and Ottavio Dantone—who have engaged her regularly, along with Jacobs and the Freiburger Barockorchester. She has performed at major theaters such as the Theater an der Wien, Oper Frankfurt, and, on multiple occasions, the Komische Oper Berlin, and she frequently appears with prominent period-instrument ensembles including the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin and Belgium’s B’Rock. Johannsen has also returned periodically to the United States for engagements with the Pittsburgh, Dallas, and Cincinnati Symphony Orchestras. She continued to record for Harmonia Mundi until 2020, when she moved to PentaTone Classics for a recording of Telemann’s seldom-heard opera Miriways with the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin. In 2022 she was featured on Harmonia Mundi in Jacobs’s unconventional yet widely praised account of Bach’s Mass in B minor, BWV 232, again with the Freiburger Barockorchester.
Albums
