PSU grad takes on lead role at the Met

When the lead tenor for Saturday’s performance of “Tristan and Isolde” at New York’s Metropolitan Opera accidently fell into the prompter’s pit this week, it looked like bad news for the show.

But what tragedy befell that performer has opened a window of opportunity for a Pittsburg State University graduate.

Robert Dean Smith has been selected to fill in as the lead role of Tristan, telling the story of the character’s mystical journey of “love, sex, and death” in the five-hour performance. This week, the Metropolitan flew Smith in from his home in Germany to sing at the matinee. Smith’s upcoming performance was first published in the New York Times in an article detailing the various accidents that have happened to Metropolitan Opera performers.

Smith, who studied at Julliard after finishing at PSU, has traveled around the world, performing in operas and developing a long resume of acclaimed performances. Saturday’s stint will be his debut at the Met.

The performance will be broadcast at 12:30 p.m. eastern time and can be heard in Missouri on radio stations 88.7 FM (Joplin), 96.3 FM (Lebanon), 88.5 FM (Rolla), 99.1 FM (St. Louis), 105.5 FM (El Dorado Springs). In Kansas, it will be broadcast on 90.9 FM (Great Bend/Hays), 90.1 FM (Hutchinson), 1660 AM (Mission/Kansas City), and 89.5 (Salina/Manhattan).

For more information on Smith and to hear his vocal performances, visit his Web site at http://www.robertdeansmith.com/.

---Pitt State---