Robert Mosley

Robert Mosley (1927 – April 30, 2002) was an American operatic bass-baritone. Part of the first generation of African-American opera singers to achieve wide success, he performed in numerous opera productions, recitals, and in concerts from the 1950s through the 1990s. In 1957 he won the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. He drew particular acclaim for his portrayal of Porgy in George Gershwin's Porgy and Bess, a role which he portrayed in the landmark 1976 Houston Grand Opera production, on Broadway, and at the Metropolitan Opera among other opera companies both in the United States and in Europe.

Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Mosley grew up in Oakland and attended Schenley High School from which he graduated in 1946. He then pursued studies in voice at West Chester University where he was a pupil of William E. Bretz. In the early 1950s he began performing in local music revues in Pittsburgh, and was also seen occasionally as a featured singer on the KDKA-TV program The Bill Brant Show. From 1955 to 1957 he worked as the regular vocalist for a morning show on that network.

In 1957 Mosley was awarded the Great Lakes Regional Auditions of the Metropolitan Opera Auditions of the Air in Cleveland, Ohio, and shortly after, was one of three scholarship winners of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions in their New York Broadcast Audition. He soon after began working as a concert singer, making appearances with the Pittsburgh Wind Symphony, the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, the American Broadcasting Company Symphony, the Baltimore Symphony, and the newly organized Pittsburgh Pops Orchestra during the late 1950s and early 1960s.

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