STORY AND PHOTOS BY KAREN BOSSICK

Victor Ryan Robertson has had a unique journey from the tennis court to some of opera and Broadway’s biggest stages with a stint as a rock musician singing Led Zeppelin in between.

And on Wednesday, March 12, the Grammy-nominated singer will perform an hour-long concert of pop music, musical theater, American songbook and opera at Sun Valley Contemporary Gallery, 320 1st Ave. N., Ketchum. The Sun Valley Opera and Broadway concert will be preceded by a half-hour reception with a charcuterie table and wine bar.

Tickets are available in advance only at https://www.sunvalleyopera.com/ or by calling 818-577-7811.

“I don’t think tennis is such a big departure from opera,” said Robertson. “It’s very solitary training where you’re not relying on a team. It’s really all on you. In opera you have to be able to study for long periods of time to learn 400 pages, 8,000 to 10,000 notes.

“And opera singing is not for everyone,” he added. “It’s the Olympics of singing. Not everybody can do it. You can’t fake it. You have to have the vocal range, the durability, the stamina, the flexibility, the force to carry your voice over the orchestra without amplification. You have to have resonance, lots of sound.”

A native of Atlanta, Ga., Tenor Victor Ryan Robertson went to college on a tennis scholarship. But, burned out from hitting tennis balls six hours a day, he turned in his racket to try opera at the encouragement of Mary Ann Hill, a professor of voice at Georgia State University who found him some scholarship money.

“In my early stages of development, my neighbors hated having to listen to me practice,” he said. “Now that I’m a professional, of course, they love it because I just sing opera from Puccini to Mozart to Rossini without having to do vocal drills.”

Robertson made his professional debut in “Rent,” an adaptation of Puccini’s “La Boheme” at the Ahmanson Theater in Los Angeles that went for a record 82 sold-out performances and earned him a coveted Ovation Award. Since, he has performed at The Metropolitan Opera in “The Merry Widow” and on Broadway in “The Phantom of the Opera” on Broadway.

He’s performed the role of Count Almaviva in Rossini’s “The Barber of Seville.” He’s played Raymond Santana in Anthony Davis’s “Central Park Five” for Portland Opera and the roles of Elijah Muhammad and the jazzy Street X in “The Life and Times of Malcolm X” for Detroit Opera and Opera Omaha.

And he’s played Benny “Kid” Paret in Terence Blanchard’s “Champion” for the Washington National Opera and as Hosea Williams in Douglas Tappin’s “A Dream,” based on a series of dreams and premonitions leading to the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King.

Robertson will sing a variety of songs during his Sun Valley performance, including Elton John’s “Tiny Dancer” and “Circle of Life: Lion King,” Andrew Lloyd Weber’s “Music of the Night” from “Phantom of the Opera,” Cole Porter’s “C’est Magnifique, Can-Can” and Billy Joel’s “She’s Always a Woman to Me.”

“Sun Valley Opera and Broadway wanted a wide variety of music and I can do a lot of genres legitimately, given my past experience so it will be a smooth transition,” said Robertson. “It’s going to be a musical ride through my journey as a rock singer, through opera and through Broadway. I haven’t taken a standard route so there’s going to be something for everyone. And, if people want to sing along, sing along!”

This will be Sun Valley Opera and Broadway’s second concert in a month’s time, having had Tenor Jordan Weatherston Jordan Pitts perform a variety of classics, including ”Besame Mucho” at its Songs of Love Sweetheart’s Tea & Concert on Valentine’s Day.

That concert took place at the American Legion Hall and included French canapes boasting pate made with leek and goat cheese and a tarragon chicken salad in puff pastry, in addition to  French pastries and Sun Valley Opera Executive Director Robyn Watson’s homemade chocolate truffles.

“We’re big opera fans,” said Jennifer Brueggeman, who enjoyed with her husband Jeffrey and friend Hannah McNees. “It’s amazing the talent we get to see perform here and to have it in such an intimate space is such a treat!”

“I like experiencing other cultures and, even though I don’t know Italian or French, I like the emotion behind the singing. We enjoyed ourselves so much—it was like having our own private tenor serenading us on Valentine’s Day!”