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Heldentenor Robert Dean Smith studied singing at Pittsburgh State University and at New York’s Juilliard School of Music. Not unlike many other heldentenors, he began his career as a baritone. His first professional engagements were in Germany. In 1995 he joined the Wiesbaden National Theatre and since then has sung all the major heldentenor parts. 1995  was also the year of his Bayreuth Festival début as Walther von Stolzing in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg. In the year 2000 Robert Dean Smith returned to Bayreuth, initially as Walther von Stolzing in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, then in 2001 he added Siegmund to his roles at the festival. He followed these up with Tristan in 2005, a role he repeated in 2006 and again this year. In this week’s Inspired Minds, Robert Dean Smith talks to Rick Fulker about his beginnings at one of the world’s most prestigious Wagner festivals and his experience in developing his critically acclaimed interpretation of Wagner’s Tristan.

Interview Rick Fulker