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The American soprano , Ellen Robertson, studied voice with Dr. Jonathan Retzlaff at Eastman School of Music, University of Rochester (2015-2019), graduating with Bachelor of Music degree in Vocal Performance as a Catherine Filene Shouse Arts Leadership Program fellow. Through this program, she completed internships with the Nashville Symphony and WXXI Classical 91.5. She is an alumna of the American Institute of Musical Studies in Graz, Austria (July-August 2017), where she studied German Lied with Kenneth Griffiths, as well as the 2014 Summer at Eastman Music Horizons program and the 2013 Tennessee Governors School for the Arts vocal program (June 2013). She received the Renée Fleming Scholarship and the Ornest Award for her freshman and junior year jury performances at Eastman. She has participated in master-classes with Renée Fleming, Dawn Upshaw, and Kenneth Merrill at Eastman, and with Barbara Bonney at the American Institute of Musical Studies. She obtained her Master of Music degree in Vocal Performance/Opera from Bienen School of Music at Northwestern University (August 2020-2022), as student of Karen Brunssen. She studied early music voice at Yale University Institute of Sacred Music (2023-2025), where she as a member of the Voxtet ensemble, graduating with a Master of Musical Arts in Early Music Voice with a focus in song, oratorio, and vocal chamber music. Robertson was awarded the Edwin Stanley Seder Scholarship from the Yales Institute of Sacred Music for the 2023-2024 academic year. She was also a winner of the Evanston Music Club & North Shore Musicians Club Scholarship Competition and of the Illinois chapter of the NSAL Dorothy Lincoln Smith Voice Competition.
In 2023, Ellen Robertson has participated in young artist programs at Finger Lakes Opera and Sarasota Opera. A passionate performer of both musical theater and opera, her musical theater roles prior to beginning her collegiate studies include the Leading Player in Pippin and Asaka in Once On This Island. At Eastman, her roles with Eastman Opera Theatre include a spirit in Jules Massenet’s Cendrillon, Virtù in Claudio Monteverdi’s L’incoronazione di Poppea, and Euridice in Christoph Willibald Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice. She has also enjoyed opportunities to sing with various Eastman choirs, Collegium Musicum, and as the soprano soloist in a performance of BWV 102, Herr, deine Augen sehen nach dem Glauben. She was also a member of the professional chamber ensemble Voices. In 2024 she toured throughout England and Scotland with Juilliard415 and Yale Schola Cantorum as a soloist in J.S. Bach's Mass in B minor BWV 232 under the direction of David Hill. In fall of 2024 she made her professional debut as an orchestral soloist, singing Dvorák’s Te Deum with the Champaign-Urbana Symphony Orchestra. |
