Robert Chionis – cavalier baritone

Robert Chionis was born in Chicago and received training as an apprentice with the Santa Fe Opera. He studied at the Musical Academy of the West, the St. Louis Conservatory of Music and the University of Houston,

He made his professional debut with the Houston Grand Opera in the world premiere of The Passion of Jonathan Wade by Carlisle Floyd and then as a soloist with the Houston Symphony Orchestra. His European debut was with the Wiener Taschenoper as Tarquinius in Britten’s The Rape of Lucretia. Over the course of his career, his operatic roles have encompassed Aeneas, Rossini’s and Mozart’s Figaro, Count Almaviva, Belcore, Silvio, Dandini, Eisenstein, Harlekin, Demetrius and John Sorel; his musical appearances include the title role in Candide, Matt in The Fantasticks, Hero in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, as well as Jack in the Viennese premiere of Jekyll and Hyde in the historical Theater an der Wien.

After his successful European debut, Robert Chionis remained in Austria where he collaborated with Vienna’s independent opera scene in productions of classical and contemporary rarities such as Berg’s Lulu, Britten’s Death in Venice Birtwhistle’s The 2nd Mrs. Kong, Reimann’s Das Schloss, Wenzl-Traunfels’ Die Suehne, Massenet’s Thais, Bizet’s Les Pecheurs de Perles and Menotti’s The Telephone, which he performed with Vienna’s music society La Prima Volta and subsequently at the Chamber Opera Chicago under the baton of Victoria Bond.

Robert Chionis has toured throughout Europe with numerous concerts and musical gala performances in prestigious venues including Vienna’s Konzerthaus and Musikverein, as well as the Baroque Salon of the Old City Hall. He is also the co-author of the musical revue Sei mir gegruesst, mein Sauerkraut and has written the books for the musicals The Road to Fame and The Curse of Shadow’s Edge, which were performed in Vienna’s Akzent Theater. In July 2011 he is going to revive his one-man show Surviving Love under the auspices of the Midtown International Theatre Festival in New York. Suviving Love had its successful premiere in Vienna’s Rampenlichtheater in 2009 and transferred into the Blackbox Theater in 2010.