BIOGRAPHY

Praised for her “inimitable, resonant contralto” (Phindie), “particularly moving singing” (Cleveland Classical), and “mysterious, dark hue and sauntering presence” (San Franciso Classical Voice), Robin Bier enjoys a varied career of solo and ensemble singing with an emphasis on early music and oratorio repertoire.

As a concert soloist, Robin has appeared with the American Bach Soloists,  Washington Bach Consort, Bach Choir of Bethlehem, Sarasota Orchestra,  Bach Festival of Philadelphia, Staunton Festival, Cantata Collective, Princeton Pro Musica, Bourbon Baroque, Dartington Festival Orchestra, English Symphony Orchestra, Berks Sinfonietta, Reading Choral Society, Baroque Collective, Glacier Symphony, Yorkshire Baroque Soloists, Austin Baroque Orchestra, and Brandywine Baroque. Opera credits in recent years include Aristea in Cesti’s L’Orontea at the Amherst Early Music Festival, Medoro in Handel’s Orlando at the Corona del Mar Baroque Festival, the Mother in Menotti’s Amahl and the Night Visitors with the Delaware Valley Opera Company, and Ancella in Verdi’s Simon Boccanegra with Opera Philadelphia.

As a professional chorister, Robin has worked with many of the top ensembles in the US and UK, including the Choir of Trinity Wall Street, Everlasting Voices, Clarion, Musica Secreta, I Fagiolini, Apollo’s Fire, Choral Arts Philadelphia, the Ebor Singers, Ensemble VIII, Musica Teverae, the chorus of Opera Philadelphia, and the Philadelphia Symphonic Choir.  During her postgraduate studies in England she became the first woman to sing with the Lay Clerks of Ripon Cathedral.  

Robin is co-founder and co-director of solo-voice early music ensemble Les Canards Chantants, with whom she has collaborated with ACRONYM, Parthenia Viol Consort, Pellingman’s Saraband, and the Folger Consort, and performed in venues as diverse as Poole’s Cavern and Washington National Cathedral. The ensemble has gained a reputation for theatrically daring presentation of renaissance polyphony, and garnered praise for ‘elegant vocalism’ (Philadelphia Inquirer), ‘finely tuned vocals, robust singing, emotional flexibility, and sense of adventure’ (Broad Street Review), ‘brilliant and moving programming’ (Early Music America), and ‘liveliness and theatricality’ (Boston Musical Intelligencer). 

Originally from Alaska, Robin attended the Oberlin College and Conservatory of Music, where she entered as a pianist and departed as a singer with bachelor’s degrees in voice performance and environmental studies. She later earned her masters in solo-voice ensemble singing and PhD in Musicology from the University of York in England.  Robin is now based in Philadelphia, where she teaches studio voice at Swarthmore College, coaches the Choristers at Bryn Athyn Cathedral, and can otherwise be found hiking the trails of the Pennypack Nature Preserve with her husband, Graham, and sons Roland and Juniper.