Robert Ellsworth Feng is a Chinese-American librettist from Kailua, HI who creates impactful and entertaining works that often find themselves interwoven with his identity and experiences as an Asian-American. Robert’s goal is to help create an equitable industry and a stage that reflects the diverse and multicultural audiences of today.
Feng premiered his first opera with Nick Bentz titled Having Guests for Dinner, a 1-act horror/comedy. It received its virtual premiere with New Opera West as a micro-opera in 2020 and has since been performed live with Hartford Opera Theater in 2021. It will receive its full-length premiere with the Western NY Chamber Orchestra, /Kor/ Productions, and SUNY Fredonia in 2024. Robert has also collaborated with Felix Jarrar on the art song “When they killed us, did you say they killed Americans?”, responding to the 2021 Atlanta Spa Shootings, and the supernatural horror opera You do not recognize the bodies in the water, which was workshopped at OPERA America in 2022.
Robert is the recipient of the Peabody Career Development Award and holds degrees from Peabody Conservatory and Manhattan School of Music.
