Catherine Robbin
York University, Toronto, ON
Canada

CATHERINE ROBBIN, mezzo-soprano, has enjoyed a career of international proportions since her debut in 1972. She has performed repertoire ranging from Bach and Handel to the works of Britten, Elgar, Schubert, Mahler and Berlioz. Conductors including Mario Bernardi, Alan Curtis, Andrew Davis, Charles Dutoit, John Eliot Gardiner, Hans Graf, Christopher Hogwood, Bernard Labadie, Nicholas McGegan, John Nelson, Roger Norrington, Trevor Pinnock, Libor Pesek, Simon Rattle and Bruno Weil have collaborated with her. Past highlights include appearances at Covent Garden with John Eliot Gardiner, the Mostly Mozart Festival in New York and the Salzburg Festival conducted by Sir Simon Rattle. European credits include the Schleswig-Holstein and the Halle Handel festivals, the Belgian National Orchestra, the Liverpool Philharmonic, and Paris' Chatelet and Theatre Champs Elysees.
Award-winning recordings include Handel's Floridante with Tafelmusik for CBC Records (Juno Award), Beethoven's Missa Solemnis with the English Baroque Soloists for DG (Gramophone's Record of the Year), and Haydn's Stabat Mater with Pinnock for Archiv (Grand Prix du Disque). She has also recorded for CBC Records, Decca Florilegium, EMI, Erato, Marquis Record, l'Oiseau Lyre, Phillips, Telarc and Virgin.
Catherine has now retired from performance and is completely dedicated to teaching, privately and most especially as Director of Vocal Studies at York University. She also gives regular Masterclasses at universities all over Canada, at the Carmel Bach Festival and is President of the Canadian Aldeburgh Foundation, an organization that supports young Canadian Artists studying and performing in the Britten- Pears Young Artists programme in the UK.