Catherine Robbin

One of Canada's best-known mezzo-sopranos, Catherine Robbin established

an international reputation, performing with leading conductors throughout the world. Miss Robbin’s illustrious thirty-year performing career included performances and recordings with conductors John Eliot Gardiner, Trevor Pinnock, Christopher Hogwood, Bernard Labadie, John Nelson, Andrew Davis and many others in concert halls from Rome to Tokyo. She performed and recorded a wide range of vocal music but is particularly noted for her interpretations of Baroque and Romantic repertoire in oratorio, opera and recital. 

 

In 2003, Catherine Robbin retired from a performing career, giving her farewell concert at the Glenn Gould Studio in Toronto with Tafelmusik. From 2003 until 2018 she was the director of classical vocal studies in the School of Arts, Media, Performance and Design at York University in Toronto.  Her students have won numerous awards and have gone on to graduate studies at many Canadian, American and European universities. 

 

Miss Robbin is still called upon to adjudicate and to give masterclasses at universities across Canada and for young artists’ intensive programs. She is the president of the Art Song Foundation of Canada. 

 

Throughout her career Miss Robbin has been the recipient of numerous awards and honours, including a Juno Award, a Grand Prix du Disque and a Grammy nomination. In 2012, she was named an Officer of the Order of Canada.