After vocal training in her native America, she studied at conservatoires in London and The Hague and settled permanently in the Netherlands in 1972. Her great career as an opera singer took her to major opera houses around the world, from the Scala in Milan to The Metropolitan Opera in New York. As a concert singer, she performed with renowned orchestras and conductors. In 1992, she received an Edison for her recording of Hendrik Andriessen's orchestral songs. In 2020, she received the Edison Classical Oeuvre Prize for her enormous oeuvre and extraordinary achievements for classical music, both nationally and internationally.
Roberta Alexander leaves behind an impressive and versatile discography from Bach to Broadway. Together with pianist Tan Crone, she recorded songs by Samuel Barber, Leonard Bernstein, Charles Ives and Richard Strauss. She taught at Codarts in Rotterdam and at the Amsterdam Conservatory of Music and was an esteemed jury member at the International Vocal Competition ‘s-Hertogenbosch. She was also on the jury of the auditions for Friends of the Song several times. Moreover, she was chair of our Artistic Council from 2016 to 2018.
In June 2015, Roberta Alexander and Peter Nilsson jointly gave a song interpretation course for advanced amateur singers and their pianists at Friends of Song. The English-language song repertoire was the focus that time. With great skill and humour, they took the six participating duos to great heights. One of the participants wrote afterwards: ‘The passion for the synthesis between music and text was conveyed to us by both Roberta and Peter in a very inspiring way with a great sense of humour and with care for a safe atmosphere, in which we dared to show and hear ourselves.’
Roberta Alexander had a lot of passion, humour and energy. She was a big star, a beloved colleague and a wonderful human being.
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