Biography
The bass baritone, Robert Koller, has many years of experience in the concert and opera world. He has performed in prestigious opera houses and concert halls such as "Alte Oper Frankfurt", Zellerbach Hall/San Franciso, Semperoper Dresden, Philharmonie Berlin and the Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires, under various conductors like Andrea Marcon, Heinz Holliger, Jordi Savall, Emilio Pomárico and Christian Schumann.
Since 2004, he has been singing the role of King Cosroe in "Siroe, Re di Persia" by Haendel with the Venice Baroque Orchestra, under the direction of Andrea Marcon at the Musikhalle Hamburg and at the Zellerbach Hall, San Francisco. This has led to his soloist appearances in various works by Charpentier with the Capella Reial de Catalunya under Jordi Savall at the Styriarte Graz and the festival of Ambronay and the Basilica of Vézelay.
He has performed a broad range of leading roles and recitals in renowned theatres and festivals including the Società di Quartetto Milano, the Summer Concerts of the Audi-Forum Ingolstadt, the Teatro Principal de Guanajuato as part of the Cervantino Festival Mexico, the Ruhr-Triennale, the Festival of Montepulciano, the Davos-Festival, the Gaida Festival Vilnius and the Lucerne Festival with the Lucerne Festival Strings at the KKL.
Swiss radio broadcasted his solo performances with leading Swiss orchestras such as the Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne, the Kammerorchester Basel, the Kollegium Musicum Winterthur, the Basel Sinfonietta (at the Stadtcasino Basel), the Ensemble Phoenix or the Contrechamps Genève.
He was the leading role in "Extravagancia" at the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires in 2010 (staged by Rafael Spregelburd), and in "Nacht" by Georg-Friedrich Haas at the Lucerne Festival (KKL) in 2011.
Semperoper Dresden employed him the following year to sing the title role in "El Cimarron“ by H.-W. Henze.
2013 brought him further soloist engagements at the "Ittinger Pfingsttage" conducted by Heinz Holliger, at the Grande Opéra de Genève with Kurtàgs' "pas à pas..." and at the Wiener Musikverein to sing the bass solo in "Missa Solemnis" by Beethoven.
Since 2014, Robert has been working under Heinz Holliger for the baritone song cycle "Lunea" at the Alte Oper Frankfurt (world premiere of the orchestrated version by Holliger) with the Ensemble Modern, which was broadcast by Radio Hessen (hr2). In the same year, he sang the baritone solo in "Dunkle Spiegel“ conducted by Heinz Holliger at the Tonhalle Zürich.
In 2015, Robert appeared with the baritone song cycle "del aram“ with the Brandenburgisches Staatsorchester under Szolt Hamar, as well as a soloist in Beethoven's Ninth at the Berliner Philharmonie and at the Aichi Arts Center at Nagoya. In autumn there were further solo performances with Heinz Holliger at the Tonhalle Zurich, and with Emilio Pomárico at the Alte Oper Frankfurt.
In 2016, he performed the solo parts of "Walpurgisnacht" by Mendelssohn with the Tonhalle Orchester Zürich at the Tonhalle Zürich.
The recommendation of Kaija Saariaho lead him for the solo part in "Sombre" both at Njord Biennale in Copenhagen and at SCHWETZINGER SWR Festspiele 2016.
At the Lucerne Festival 2016 he was the leading role of the opera premiere "Die künstliche Mutter" and soloist at the 2016 concert series of the BBVA Foundation at Bilbao.
In 2017, he sang the baritone lead part in the first performance of "musica profana" (Kelterborn) with Sarah Wegener conducted by Heinz Holliger,
the leading part of Luther in "Luther's dreams" with the Brandenburgisches Staatsorchester conducted by Howard Griffith in Frankfurt and Potsdam, Noah in Noahs Fludde by Britten with the Sinfonieorchester Basel,
the baritone solo part in "Danse des morts" (Arthur Honegger) with the Basler Kammerorchester as well as the base solo part in Beethoven's Ninth at the concert halls of St. Gallen and Berne and the parts of Jesus and Andacht in "Tag des Gerichts" by Telemann with La Cetra conducted by Andrea Marcon.
In 2018, he was the baritone soloist with the Basle Symphony Orchestra in various pieces by Schumann, Mendelssohn and Bruch.
After his appearance as a soloist with the National Philharmonic of Ukraine at the Philharmony of Kiev he sang the solo parts in Messa di Gloria by Puccini with Sinfonieorchester St. Gallen at Tonhalle St. Gallen, in Beethoven's Ninth at the concert hall of Toyota City/Japan,
2019 in Danse des Morts by Honegger with Jenaer Philharmonie as well as in the staged version of the Creation by Haydn with Kammerorchester Basel,
followed by Elias by Mendelssohn at Kulturcasino Bern and at Tonhalle Zürich, Te Deum by Dvorak and Stabat Mater by Rossini at the cathedral of Berne, the Mass in C-major by Beethoven at KKL Lucerne,
and 2020 “Des Knaben Wunderhorn” by Gustav Mahler with the Lemanic Modern Ensemble at Studio Ernest Ansermet in Geneva, the titel role of „el Cimarron“ by Henze at Sendesaal Bremen as well as
the memorial concert for Hans Heinz Schneeberger with Heinz Holliger.
In 2021 he sang Dvořák's "Stabat Mater" with the Musikkollegium Winterthur and the baritone solo part with the Philharmonie Dresden at Kulturpalast on the Day of German Unity under Jonathan Stockhammer (recorded by Deutschlandfunk Kultur)
In 2022 he sang at Tonhalle Zurich Field Mass by Martinu and the Berlin Requiem by Kurt Weill,
at the Gustav Mahler Wochen at Toblach works by Mahler and young composer under Clemens Heil.
He was then engaged by the Musikverein in Vienna as a soloist for the portrait concert with Mark André
and by the Kloster Festspiele Maulbronn for the solo parts in works by Bach and Mendelssohn conducted by Benjamin Hartmann.
In 2023 the TOBS engaged him for Rake's Progress staged by Maria Riccarda Wesseling and the Bern Festival for the opening concert with a recital in the Menuhin Forum with Salome Kammer and Kirill Zwegintsov.
Education:
Robert Koller graduated in solo singing from the Musikhochschule Zurich where he obtained his prestigious soloist diploma under László Polgár and in composition under Detlev Müller Siemens.