Education:

DMA
West Virginia University

MM
University of North Carolina, Greensboro

BM
SUNY at Fredonia

Robert Strauss, Lecturer

Departmental Responsibilities:
Applied Voice for Primaries and Secondaries
Opera Workshop Stage Director

Tenor Robert Strauss recently completed the Doctor of Musical Arts in Vocal Performance and Literature at West Virginia University, with his dissertation “The Five Song Cycles for Voice and Piano by Benjamin Britten Written Specifically for Peter Pears: The Effect of Their Relationship.”  He also holds degrees from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and State University of New York College at Fredonia. 

On the stage, the tenor has sung Tamino (Die Zauberflöte), Don Ottavio (Don Giovanni), Nemorino (L’elisir d’amore), Prologue/Peter Quint (The Turn of the Screw), Mayor Upfold (Albert Herring), Alfred (Die Fledermaus), Jack Point (The Yeomen of the Guard), Tony (West Side Story), Anthony Hope (Sweeney Todd, The Demon Barber of Fleet Street), and Archibald Craven (The Secret Garden).  In the fall of 2006, Strauss will appear as Pedrillo in Mercury Opera’s production of Mozart’s Die Entführung aus dem Serail.  The tenor has also toured Italy performing opera scenes and arias from the standard Italian operatic literature with the Centro Studi Italiani Opera Festival.

In the summer of 2005, Strauss appeared as one of the tenor soloists in Rossini’s Messa di Gloria in the composer’s hometown of Pesaro.  Other performances of his include the tenor solos in the Mozart and Pinkham Requiems, Messiah, Saint-Saens’ Christmas Oratorio, The Christmas Story by Schütz, A New Creation by René Clausen, and Bending Towards The Light: A Jazz Nativity by Anne Phillips.  He has also sung Britten’s Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings.

Last year, Strauss directed the New York State premiere of Felice, an opera by Benton Hess.  Aside from numerous scenes productions, including selections from masterworks such as Carmen, La Bohème, Die Zauberflöte, Le nozze di Figaro, Die Entführung aus dem Serail (Act II), and Die Lustigen Weibern von Windsor (Act I finale), he has also staged full productions of Dido and Aeneas, Trial by Jury, and Godspell.  He has been involved in productions of Oklahoma!, Man of La Mancha, Godspell, and It’s a Wonderful Life, the Musical as music director.

Aside from his duties at Nazareth College, Dr. Strauss also teaches voice at the Eastman Community Music School, having previously served on voice faculties of colleges in North Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania.  He is a member of the National Association of Teachers of Singing and the College Music Society, as well as of Pi Kappa Lambda, the national music honor fraternity.

Phone: (585) 389-2700
FAX: (585) 586-2939

E-mail : StraussRobert@msn.com