Robert Hale

Robert Hale (born August 22, 1933 in Kerrville, Texas) is an American bass-baritone opera singer. Although born in Texas, Hale spent his childhood in Louisiana. His family then moved to Oklahoma City, where he attended high school and college. He graduated from Bethany-Peniel College (now Southern Nazarene University) in 1955. He then completed his master's degree at the University of Oklahoma. While still at the University of Oklahoma, he won the National Association of Teachers of Singing Singer of the Year award and completed further studies at Boston University and the New England Conservatory of Music where he was awarded the Artist Diploma as well as winning the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. He began his career as a recitalist appearing in concert halls across the United States and later made his operatic debut at New York City Opera, as Colline in La bohème (1967).

Hale has appeared with the many leading opera houses including the Metropolitan Opera, Deutsche Oper Berlin, London's Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Teatro alla Scala in Milan, Vienna State Opera, Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona, Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris, Munich State Opera, Hamburg State Opera, San Francisco Opera, Royal Danish Opera, Finnish National Opera, Sydney Opera, Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires, and the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow. He has sung his signature roles Wotan/Wanderer in Wagner's Ring Cycle in most major opera houses of the world as well as the title role in The Flying Dutchman for which he received the Russian Golden Mask Award in 2005 for his performance at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow.