Robert White

Robert White (born October 27, 1936) is an American tenor and voice teacher who has had an active performance career for eight decades. If he is not better known to the general public, it is because his career, confined to art song and the concert stage, has not brought him the wider renown of singers who make their careers in opera; but he has long been cherished by connoisseurs of vocal music for the pure lyric sweetness of his voice and his scrupulous musicianship. He began performing Irish songs on the radio in 1942 at the age of six on programs like Coast to Coast on a Bus and The Fred Allen Show; earning the nickname the "little John McCormack". In the late 1950s he embarked on a career as a concert tenor, and achieved great success as an exponent of early music by such composers as Handel, Bach, and Monteverdi during the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s. He has performed in concerts with several major orchestras, including the New York Philharmonic under Leonard Bernstein and the Philadelphia Orchestra under Eugene Ormandy, and has performed at the White House for Presidents John F. Kennedy and Jimmy Carter. In the mid 1970s White returned to his roots as a performer of Irish songs, and achieved fame internationally as an 'Irish tenor,' drawing comparison to John McCormack; he even performed on programs for BBC television in honor of the late tenor. He continues to perform in concerts with a diverse repertoire ranging from Irish ballads to opera to contemporary art songs and works from the classical tenor canon. Several composers have written works specifically for him, including Mark Adamo, William Bolcom, John Corigliano, Lukas Foss, Stephen Hough, Libby Larsen, Lowell Liebermann, Gian Carlo Menotti, Tobias Picker, Ned Rorem, and David Del Tredici. He has made several recordings for RCA Victor Records, mainly of Irish songs and ballads, and has also recorded a diverse repertoire for Virgin Classics, EMI, and Hyperion. A former faculty member of Hunter College and the Manhattan School of Music, he currently teaches on the voice faculty of the Juilliard School. He also works periodically as an interviewer for the radio station WQXR-FM.