Loving v. Virginia
World Premiere
Role: Richard Loving (Alt cast and cover)
Conductor: Adam Turner
Director: Denyce Graves
Silent Light
World Premiere
Role: Johan (Cover)
Conductor: Christopher Rountree
Director: Thaddeus Strassberger
The Elixir of Love
Company Debut
Role: Belcore
Conductor: Alexandra Enyart
Director: Eve Summer
The Cunning Little Vixen
Role: Forester (cover)
Conductor: Roberto Kalb
Director: Yuval Sharon
Loss, Recovery, Memory: A Recital
Songs by Leslie Adams, Brahms, Dowland, Duparc, Fauré, Mazzoli, Mendelssohn, Mendelssohn-Hensel, Schumann, Still, Verdi, and Wieck-Schumann.
Featuring Robert Maggio’s Forgetfulness
Pianist: Sarah Thune
Centennial Celebration of American Composer Julia Perry
Professor Louise Toppin’s African American Art Song class at the University of Michigan presents a concert celebrating the cenennital of the birth of African American composer Julia Perry.
Featuring Tyrese Byrd, Rebecca Clark, Benjamin Isk, Cameron Johnson, Kaden Klein, Jabari Lewis, Loren Reash-Henz, Robert Wesley Mason, as well as pianist Taylor Flowers and musicologist Garrett Schumann.
The Glass Hammer
Music by Jorge Martín-Buján
Poetry by Andrew Hudgins
Pianist: Sarah Thune
Watch the live steam here: Live Stream Link
Europeras 3 & 4
“Robert Wesley Mason stood out with one of the evening’s
quieter pieces—Billy’s imprisonment aria from Britten’s Billy Budd.”
-Wall Street JournalMason’s sound — flint-hard one moment, voluptuous the next — and searing dramatic intensity provided an ideal foil…His bright wit was similarly evident when he took a stage lap on a bicycle and punctuated his Billy Budd with a billy club.”
-Classical Voice North AmericaRole: Baritone
Director: Yuval Sharon
Loving v. Virginia (Workshop)
Piano Vocal Workshop
Role: Richard Loving
Conductor: Adam Turner
Director: Denyce Graves
The Shining
“Robert Wesley Mason was an articulate, explosive, first-rate Jack, with his dark, robust baritone and assured physicality.” -Opera News
“For Jack, here strongly sung and acted by baritone Robert Wesley Mason, Moravec provides music that becomes more jagged and discordant over the course of the opera, as Jack’s state of mind goes from hopeful to deranged.” -San Francisco Classical Voice
“Energetic baritone Robert Wesley Mason portrays Jack, and in addition to his passionate singing, he is tasked with acting a dramatic role that at first is a smiling, loving family man but that descends into rage. He accomplishes the task.” -Berkshire Fine Arts
“In the leading roles, baritone Robert Wesley Mason and soprano Kearstin Piper Brown conveyed Jack and Wendy’s deepening plight with strong, shapely vocalism.” -San Francisco Chronicle
“Baritone Robert Wesley Mason as Jack Torrance has a powerful sound … and had impressive stamina for this marathon of a role; he was onstage for nearly all of the opera.” -The Opera Tattler
“Jack’s transformation from daddy to baddy was superbly and humanely characterized by Robert Wesley Mason.” -Aisle Seat Review
Role: Jack Torrance (Company and role debut)
Conductor: Nicole Paiement
Director: Brian Staufenbiel
J.S. Bach: Wir müssen durch viel Trübsal, BWV 146
Bass Soloist
Role Debut
Conductor Dr. John Boonenberg
The Cunning Little Vixen
Role: Forester
Director: Tara Faircloth
Conductor: Kirk Severtsen
The Power Center at the University of Michigan
American Song Institute 2022: Final Performance
You can listen to a recording of the fellow’s recital here on the Songs of American website. Wes’s selections included “Serenader” by Samuel Barber, “Night” by Florence Price, “Heavenly Grass” by Paul Bowles, and Clarence Cameron White’s “I’m So Glad Troubles Don’t Last Always.”
Featuring Thomas Hampson and Hampsong Voice Fellows, with Martin Katz (piano).
The Stamps Auditorium at The University of Michigan
Music from Auschwitz: A Concert Series
“A University of Michigan student orchestra will perform the original musical pieces interspersed with lines, spoken by the singers, from testimonies and interviews with members of the Auschwitz I men’s orchestra after the war. Silent for more than seventy years, the voices and stirring melodies of those imprisoned at Auschwitz will be brought to life in the Museum’s Edmond J. Safra Hall.”
Conducted by Oriol Sans
The Companion
”Robert Wesley Mason [grounded] the action as Dax and [revealed] unexpected depth to the character.” -BlogCritics
Directed by John De Los Santos
Conducted by Geoffrey Andrew McDonald
Music by Robert Paterson and Libretto by David Cote
Role: Dax
Mostly Modern Projects & Cutting Edge Concerts New Music Festival
Program and ticket info: Sheen Center
J.S. Bach: Was Gott tut, das ist wohlgetan, BWV 100
Bass Soloist
Role Debut
Conductor Dr. John Boonenberg
2021 American Liszt Society Festival
Recital with pianist Gabriel Dobner.
Songs by Mihalovich, Liszt, and Dvořák.
Bliss
”Mason brought robustness to moments as the Count that revealed how great a Figaro he would be in a full production.” -VAN Magazine
Role: Figaro
Role Debut
Directed by Yuval Sharon
Conducted by Christopher Rountree
Dog and Wolf
Role: Joseph
Directed by Joan Kane
Written by Catherine Filloux
Company and role debut
Presented live via Zoom. Register to watch here
Romance of the Rose (CANCELLED)
This show has been cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Role: Pleasure
World Premiere opera by Kate Soper
Company and role debut
Directed by Michael Rau
Das Barbecü
”We first see Wotan (the barrel-chested Robert Wesley Mason,
with a voice to match) …” -The New York Times“The entire cast, all of whom play multiple roles, are excellent, with characterizations changing at the drop of a hat….Especially effective [is] Mason as Wotan…” -Epoch Times
”Robert Wesley Mason [is a] chameleon.“
-Woman Around Town”They each bring a great deal of hilarity and good-heartedness to the 4 to 6 characters each of ’em inhabit.” -Manhattan Digest
”…marvelous cast, who switch characters on a dime…all brought good voices to the fold…”
-Broadway WorldRole: Actor #4 (Wotan/Gunther/Hagen)
Directed by Eric Einhorn and Katherine M. Carter
Musical direction by Emily Senturia
Company and role debut
Breaking the Waves
“As Jan, baritone Robert Wesley Mason gave a gleaming, vocally burly performance that burst with life even as he spent most of the opera confined to a hospital bed.” -The San Francisco Chronicle
“The opera’s heroine, Bess McNeill, thoroughly embodied in voice and soul by soprano Sara LeMesh, is at once giddy and grateful for bringing Jan Nyman (the compelling baritone [Robert Wesley] Mason) into her life.” -San Francisco Classical Voice
“Lovingness oozes and tested emotions are firmly rendered in Robert Wesley Mason’s handsomely rugged Jan as life turns upside down, his warm, muscular and resonant baritone a perfect casing and compliment for LeMesh’s Bess.” -The Opera Chaser
“The rest of the cast supported LeMesh well, nearly all the characters have many different sides and get to portray a range of emotions. From baritone Robert Wesley Mason, whose Jan is heartbreaking…” -The Opera Tattler
“In a small miracle, the entire cast was up to LeMesh's quality, including baritone Robert Wesley Mason as her Norwegian oil rigger new husband, who made you believe Bess would see their balls-to-the-wall marital sex as a direct pipeline to the sacred. Mason sounded great and was sympathetic in a tricky role where he's paralyzed for most of the second half.” -Civic Center
Jan Nyman
Company and role debut
Directed by Mark Streshinsky
Conducted by Jonathan Khuner
West Edge Opera (West Coast Premiere)
The Juliet Letters
“Aryssa Leigh Burrs, Robert Wesley Mason, and Melissa Wimbish are the triumvirate of artists on stage who weave the song cycle into the stories of the night. They bring operatic voices, graceful physicality, and intensely connected acting and interacting to each of the songs. Mason roars and growls and introspects in bold baritone bravado and tosses out the occasional bit of tenor rock and roll to keep the ghost of Elvis alive.”
-DC Metro Theater Arts“All three singers are game and work the steeplechase of vocal styles that Costello and Co. throw at them. They don’t back off from pushing a punk rock number. Neither are they above a musical belt or a growl. But the performers can, on a dime go into a bel canto sound when called on. Robert Wesley Mason has a metallic ping in his sound that he uses to great effect straddling vocal styles. Hailing from Norfolk, Virginia, he can pull out a drawl like twang and convince us he might be someone on the circuit playing country rock then turn around and nail it as a ‘serious’ baritone.” -DC Theatre Scene
“Dashing Robert Wesley Mason has a lot to do, representing every male voice in the song cycle, but adjusts accordingly and with authority.” -Broadway World
Soloist
Company and role debut
Directed by Cara Gabriel
Conducted by Robert Wood
As One
Hannah Before
Directed by Keturah Stickann
Conducted by Andrew Bisantz
Company debut
Carmen
“Fittingly, the only match for … Carmen is Robert Wesley Mason’s Escamillo, the bullfighter Carmen drops Don Jose for. It’s easy to see why. Mason owns the stage every time he’s on it, charismatic and magnetic and a joy to watch and hear…it’s hard to match Mason’s bravura when given the iconic ‘Toreador Song.’”
-InForumEscamillo
Directed by Maria Todaro
Conducted by Eric Weimer