Draft:Robert Mitchell Swedberg

Robert Mitchell Swedberg

Robert Mitchell Swedberg (born 1950) is an American opera stage director, arts administrator, and yoga therapist. He was general director of Orlando Opera from 1990 to 2007 and later served as a clinical associate professor of music at the University of Michigan, where he directed opera productions from 2008 until his retirement in 2018.

Early life and education

Swedberg received Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Music degrees from California State University, Northridge, in 1975, majoring in music performance with a minor in theatre. He earned a Master of Business Administration from the University of Central Florida in 1998.

Career

Early opera work, 1976–1990

Between 1976 and 1982, Swedberg held freelance and staff positions including stage director apprentice to Wesley Balk in the San Francisco Opera’s Merola Program, production stage manager at Portland Opera, and stage director for the Inspiration Point Fine Arts Colony and Anchorage Opera. From 1978 to 1982, he was director of educational projects and assistant stage director for Seattle Opera and the Pacific Northwest Wagner Festival. He subsequently served as manager and artistic director of Opera Carolina in Charlotte, North Carolina (1982–1987), and general director of Syracuse Opera Company (1987–1990).

Orlando Opera, 1990–2007

Swedberg was hired as general director of Orlando Opera in 1990. Under his direction the company staged performers including Sherrill Milnes, Samuel Ramey, Denyce Graves, Carol Vaness, and Plácido Domingo, and he founded the Heinz Rehfuss Singing-Actor Awards. Beginning in 1993, he hosted Opera With Robert Swedberg, a weekly program on WMFE-FM, and that same year took part in establishing the Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra after the Florida Symphony Orchestra went bankrupt. He served on the board of directors of OPERA America from 2002 to 2007.[1] In July 2006, Orlando Opera’s board created a new chief executive and president position, saying the existing structure — with both a general director and an incoming CEO — was duplicative, and hired Jim Ireland to fill it. Swedberg’s departure was announced in April 2007 as an amicable resignation; he agreed not to discuss the circumstances publicly, and colleagues in Orlando’s arts community described the move as unexpected. He returned that November to direct the company’s 50th-anniversary opening production of Don Giovanni under a separation agreement. Board chairman Mitch Levin later said the company’s financial difficulties were the board’s responsibility rather than Swedberg’s. Orlando Opera ceased operations and filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in April 2009, two years after Swedberg’s departure, with company officials citing the effects of the 2008–2009 recession.

University of Michigan, 2008–2018

In 2008, Swedberg joined the University of Michigan’s School of Music, Theatre & Dance as a clinical associate professor of music and director of opera in the Department of Voice. He taught the opera studio program, directed mainstage productions, and taught courses he developed titled Yoga for Performers and The Business of Music. Beginning in his first year at the university, he produced what the university described as “Green Opera” productions, incorporating measures intended to reduce the carbon footprint of rehearsal and performance, which the university states made it the first in the United States to do so. He retired with emeritus status in September 2018 and has continued to direct opera productions on a freelance basis.

International engagements

Swedberg has directed opera productions internationally, including Die Zauberflöte for the Macau and Beijing music festivals (2004), La Sonnambula in Mallorca, Spain (2005), and productions in Hof, Bamberg, Pforzheim, and Bayreuth, Germany, between 2006 and 2008, as well as a production of William Walton’s The Bear at the Walton estate in Ischia, Italy, in 2008.

Singing career

As a bass-baritone, Swedberg performed with companies including Long Beach Opera, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Seattle Opera, and the San Francisco Opera’s Merola Program, and as a chorister with New York City Opera, principally between 1972 and 1980, resuming periodic performances from 2003.

Yoga and yoga therapy

Swedberg became a certified yoga instructor in 2004 and holds an E-RYT 200 credential through Yoga Alliance. He taught yoga at the University of Michigan from 2008 to 2018 and has also taught at Opera in the Ozarks in Eureka Springs, Arkansas, and at Valencia College in Orlando. He is the author of Yoga for Performers (2005), a self-published book used as a course textbook.

Personal life

Swedberg lives in Orlando, Florida. His wife, Melissa Swedberg, is a violist with the Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra.