Robin Donald

Donald Robin (Smith) (born 26 March 1942) is an Australian operatic tenor who was known professionally as 'Robin Donald'. He is the son of arguably Australia's greatest operatic tenor voice Donald Smith (Dr Donald Smith O.B.E.).

Robin performed leading operatic tenor roles, including Rudolfo in La Bohème, Turridu in Cavalleria Rusticana, in many major opera houses throughout Britain, including the Sadler's Wells Opera Company Theatre and the London Coliseum Theatre, Europe (Théâtre Royal de La Monnaie), Australia (Sydney Opera House), and in Christchurch New Zealand, where he sang Florestan in the opera Fidelio for the New Zealand Broadcasting Commission, during a professional operatic career spanning over 35 years.

Donald Robin Smith was born in Bundaberg, Queensland in 1942, the son of the tenor Donald Smith and Thelma Joyce Lovett. Robin Donald's initial studies in music, stagecraft and languages began with the Queensland Conservatorium of Music in Brisbane.

A natural tenor from birth like his famous father, Robin performed in 1963 in his first opera with the Australian Elizabethan Theatre Trust Opera Company at Her Majesty's Theatre in Brisbane, in Gounod's opera Faust. He also gained some of his initial stage performing experiences, as a principal tenor with the Brisbane Gilbert & Sullivan Society and the Queensland Light Opera Company (QLOC), in the musicals Iolanthe, The White Horse Inn and No No Nanette.

Robin Donald began his solo professional international operatic career in England in 1966, as a principal tenor with the Sadler's Wells Opera Company (which later became the English National Opera). Prior to this, he had studied music, acting and stagecraft with The London Opera Centre. During this time he also performed with the Opera Centre's touring company Opera For All, performing the roles of The Duke in Verdi's Rigoletto, Nemorino in Donizetti's L'elisir D'Amore, and Basilio in Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro. While at the London Opera Centre, Robin also studied and sang with the New Zealand soprano Kiri Te Kanawa in their production of Così Fan Tutte.

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