Robert
Feng

Robert Feng
(He/Him) Robert Ellsworth Feng is a Chinese-American bass-baritone and librettist who creates striking and powerful performances. 

As a singer, Robert is hailed by Opera News as "a booming, well-crafted bass," and as a librettist, Robert will has had works premiered and performed on both US coasts. Robert has a particular affinity and aptitude for contemporary opera and new music.

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Biography

Robert Feng

Hailed as "a booming, well-crafted bass" (Opera News) with a “strong presence,” (S. Fairbank) Chinese-American singer and librettist Robert Ellsworth Feng is a Grand Prize Winner of the Burbank Philharmonic Hennings-Fischer Young Artist Competition, and placed first in the Martorella Scholarship in Classical Voice (HI Chapter), the Dorothy Lincoln Smith Voice Competition (HI Chapter), and the Mozart International Competition Vienna. Robert's 2025 season continues as an Apprentice Artist with Chautauqua Opera performing the roles of Benoît/Alcindoro in La Bohème, Mr.Baron/Ensemble in Missy Mazzoli & Royce Vavrek’s Lincoln in the Bardo and the Bouncer in Luke Styles & Alan McKendrick’s Sitcom. Most recently, Robert participated in the Joyce DiDonato Masterclass at Carnegie Hall.

Performance highlights include La Calisto (Giove), The Rake’s Progress (Nick Shadow) and Carmen (Zuniga) with Opera Memphis, La Bohème (Colline), An American Dream (Papa), Carmen (Zuniga), Gianni Schicchi (Betto di Signa), Gasser/Harrison's The Secret Garden (Ben Weatherstaff), The Pirates of Penzance (Pirate King), Dichterliebe (Soloist), and Madama Butterfly (Bonze/Prince Yamadori) with Hawai'i Opera Theatre, the co-production of Prestini/Shaughnessy’s Sensorium Ex with Washington National Opera/Vision Into Art/Beth Morrison Projects, Robert le Diable (Bertram) with St. John's in the Village, The Garden of Alice (Mad Hatter & Others) with City Lyric Opera, Roméo et Juliette (Frère Laurent), and the world premiere of Carl/Banks’ Harmony (Rev.Twichell) with Seagle Festival, Juana (Padre Antonio), Il ritorno d'Ulisse in Patria (Il Tempo), and Anna Bolena (Rochefort) with Dell'Arte Opera Ensemble, and Les pêcheurs de perles (Nourabad) and Don Giovanni (Il Commendatore) with Kor Productions.

As a librettist, Robert creates impactful and entertaining works that have been described as “relatable and fresh.” His comedies are noted for being “quick-witted and layered”, and his horror as “hauntingly engaging.” Recently, Feng was a speaker at the 2025 OPERA America Conference in the panel “In Search of the Perfect Libretto.”

Feng’s first opera Having Guests for Dinner is a 1-act horror/comedy with music by Nick Bentz. It premiered virtually with New Opera West in 2020 and has since been produced at Hartford Opera Theater, Central Washington University, and Hillman Opera at SUNY Fredonia. The full length version was commissioned and co-produced by Kor Productions. Feng and Bentz’s second opera Salmo, a grand space opera in four acts, will be workshopped by Brown University for their 2026/27 Academic Year. 

Other operatic works include the supernatural horror opera You Do Not Recognize the Bodies in the Water workshopped at OPERA America in 2022 with music by Felix Jarrar, and the political satire Chew On This with music by Yunfei Li commissioned by Lyric Opera of Kansas City and No Divide KC for their Come As You Are (CAYA) Festival. Chew On This was described as “truly an operette for our times” (S. Fairbank). Upcoming projects include the Sci-Fi operetta Pathfinder with music by Jane Kozhevnikova, Annihilation: A nuclear oratorio for the end of days with music by Scott Wheeler, Extinction Event with music by Meilina Tsui, and The Ming and I, commissioned by Boston Opera Collective for their 2026 Opera Bites Showcase with music by Ben Yee-Paulson.

Robert placed second in the NY Classical Music Society International Voice Competition, third in the Beethoven Club of Memphis Savell Competition, and third in the Lyra Mozart International Voice Competition. Robert holds degrees from Johns Hopkins University - Peabody Institue and Manhattan School of Music. Robert is an alum of the Seagle Festival and Hawai'i Opera Theatre's Young Artist Program. Additionally, Feng was a Librettist Fellow for Lyric Opera of Kansas City and No Divide KC’s CAYA Festival Fellowship, participated in Alliance for New Music-Theatre's Composer/Librettist Lab, and is an alum of Really Spicy Opera’s Aria Institute for Composers & Librettists: Sci-Fi Edition, and Librettist Workshop.

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Experience

Experience

Washington, D.C.

Librettist

2025 - 2025
Librettist Fellow for Alliance for New Music-Theatre, 2025.

Chautauqua Opera

2025 - 2025
Chautauqua, NY

Apprentice Artist

2025 - 2025
Apprentice Artist for Chautauqua Opera Company's Summer 2025 Season: Benoît/Alcindoro; Colline cover in La Bohème Mr. Baron and Bass Ensemble in Lincoln in the Bardo Bouncer in Sitcom
Kansas City, MO

CAYA Festival - Librettist Fellow

2024 - 2024
Librettist Fellow for Lyric Opera of KC and No Divide KC's CAYA Festival. Commissioned for the one-act operetta Chew on This.

Librettist Fellow

2024 - 2024
For the Aria Institute for Composers and Librettists Sci-Fi Edition and the Librettist Workshop.

Opera Memphis

2024 - 2025
Memphis, TN

Handorf Company Artist

2024 - 2025
Handorf Company Artist for Opera Memphis' 2024-2025 season. Engagements include 30 Days of Opera (Soloist), Variations on a Theme concert series (Soloist), Amadeus: The Myth and the Music (Mozart Requiem Bass Solo; Il Commendatore), The Rake's Progress (Nick Shadow), Carmen (Zuniga), and La Calisto (Giove).

No Divide KC

2024 - 2024
Kansas City, MO, USA

CAYA Festival - Librettist Fellow

2024 - 2024
Librettist Fellow for Lyric Opera of KC and No Divide KC's CAYA Festival. Commissioned for the one-act operetta Chew on This.

Seagle Festival

2021 - 2023
Schroon Lake, NY

Emerging Artist

2023 - 2023
Emerging Artist for Seagle Festival's 2023 season. Frère Laurent in Gounod's Roméo et Juliette, Soloist in The Boys of Summer, Constable/Russian Solo in Fiddler on the Roof.

Emerging Artist

2021 - 2021
Seagle Festival Emerging Artist. Harmony (Carl/Banks, world premiere) - Rev.Joseph Twichell; La bohème (Puccini) - Colline cover
New York, NY

Apprentice Artist

2022 - 2022
Apprentice Artist for Dell'Arte Opera Ensemble's 2022 Summer season. Roles include Il tempo and Antinoo (cover) for Monteverdi's 'Il ritorno d'Ulisse in Patria' and Padre Antonio in Carla Lucero's 'Juana'
Honolulu, Hawaiʻi

Young Artist

2022 - 2024
Young Artist at Hawaii Opera Theatre. 2022-23 Season: The Secret Garden (Gasser/Harrison) - Ben Weatherstaff; Dichterliebe (Schumann) - Soloist; The Elixir of Love (Donizetti) - Dulcamara cover; The Pirates of Penzance (G&S, outreach) - Pirate King; Gianni Schicchi (Puccini) - Betto di Signa 2023-24 Season: An American Dream (Jack Perla) - Makoto Kobayashi; La bohème - Colline

Studio Artist

2020 - 2022
Mae Z. Orvis Opera Studio Artist, 2020-2022.

Expertise

Industry

Opera

Classical Music

Contemporary Music