uky.edu
Gail Robinson
Professor of Voice
Distinguished Artist in Music
Endowed Chair for Vocal Performers
Phone number: 859-257-8597
Email: glrobin@uky.edu
American soprano Gail Robinson's thirty-five year career with the Metropolitan Opera was one of the most unique in that company's history. A national winner of the Met's
National Council Auditions at the age of nineteen, Ms. Robinson's subsequent positions with the Company included young artist in the Met Studio, leading soprano for two decades and finally director of both the Met's Young Artist Development Program and the National Council Auditions.
As a leading soprano during the 1970's and '80's, Ms. Robinson was heard in such roles as Gilda in RIGOLETTO, Rosina in IL BARBIERE DI SIVIGLIA, Pamina in THE MAGIC FLUTE, Norina in DON PASQUALE, Oscar in UN BALLO IN MASCERA, Gretel in HANSEL AND GRETEL, Constanza in THE ABDUCTION FROM THE SERAGLIO, and the title role in LUCIA DI LAMMERMOOR. She appeared opposite such legendary artists as Placido Domingo, Luciano Pavarotti, Richard Tucker, Robert Merrill, Alfredo Krause, Carlo Bergonzi, Sherrill Milnes and others, and was well known to American audiences as a result of her frequent performances on Texaco's Saturday afternoon broadcasts.
Ms. Robinson made a successful transition from artist to administrator when she left her active performing career to join the artistic management of the Metropolitan Opera as Director of the Met's Young Artist Development Program and the National Council Auditions. For more than twelve years, she helped develop the careers of some of today's most prominent young singers including Dwayne Croft, Stephanie Blythe, Christine Goerke, Heidi Grant-Murphy, Paul Groves, Sandra Radvanovsky, Alexandra Deshorties, and Gregory Turay.
In addition to her more than 200 performances at the Metropolitan Opera, Ms. Robinson was a frequent guest performer at many of the leading opera houses of North America and Europe including the Munich Staatsoper, Staatsoper Berlin, Hamburg Staatsoper, Opera du Genève, Chicago Lyric and Ottawa, and her concert career took her from the Hollywood Bowl to the East Room of the White House, and from the National Symphony Orchestra to the Bayerischer Rundfunk Symphony Orchester. In addition, she was an active recitalist presenting Community Concerts in more that 80 cities within the United States, and she was well know in Europe for her operetta films and frequent television appearances.
Ms. Robinson has served as a panelist and lecturer for the National Endowment for the Arts, Opera America and the National Opera Association. The Center for Contemporary Opera honored Ms. Robinson with it's first Obelisk Award in recognition of her Example of Artistic Excellence and Outstanding Contribution to the Career Development of Young Opera Singers, and her service to the Metropolitan Opera was rewarded when the Met established an annual $5000 National Council National Finalist Award in her name.
Ms. Robinson retired from the Metropolitan Opera in 2000 to accept an endowed chair professorship at the University of Kentucky where she now serves as chair of the vocal department. Prior to this full time academic position, Ms. Robinson was Distinguished Visiting Artist of the Voice and Opera Department at her alma mater, the University of Memphis, where she also received the Distinguished Alumni Award and the University's Distinguished Achievement Award. She holds an honorary Ph.D in Fine Arts from Rhodes College in Memphis, and is in demand as an adjudicator of vocal competitions, a clinician and a master teacher. Her students have placed prominently in regional Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions as well as National Association of Teachers of Singing Competitions.
Professor Robinson resides in Lexington, Kentucky with her husband, journalist Henno Lohmeyer, and they have two grown children, Patrick and Jennifer.