Hailed by Opera News for his “buoyant conducting [that] simultaneously led and followed the singers,” Mexican American conductor Roberto Kalb is quickly establishing himself as an artist of great versatility and talent. The 2021 – 2022 season sees Mr. Kalb’s return to Opera Theatre of Saint Louis for the premiere of Tobias Picker’s Awakenings, directed by James Robinson and starring Susanna Phillips. Mr. Kalb also makes his debut with Opéra Orchestre National Montpellier for a series of concerts featuring the music of Offenbach, Gluck, Grétry, and Clerambault. Announced performances for the 2022 – 2023 season include his house debut at San Francisco Opera in Gabriela Lena Frank’s El Último Sueño de Frida y Diego. Mr. Kalb also returns to San Diego Opera to conduct the world premiere of the same piece. In the 2020 – 2021 season, Mr. Kalb made his debut at Wolf Trap Opera conducting Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd. He was also scheduled to debut at Palacio de Bellas Artes in his native Mexico City, Mexico, conducting L’elisir d’amore. Mr. Kalb was also scheduled to return to Tulsa Opera for Tobias Picker’s Awakenings, directed by James Robinson, and to Florida Grand Opera to conduct La Traviata. Highlights of previous seasons include Rigoletto with both Opera Theatre of Saint Louis and Kentucky Opera, Il barbiere di Siviglia  and Carmen with Tulsa Opera, Die Zauberflöte with Opera Maine, L’elisir d’amore with International Vocal Arts Institute’s Summer Opera Tel Aviv program, and Robert Xavier Rodriguez’s Frida with Florida Grand Opera. Additional highlights include Mr. Kalb’s debut with Michigan Opera Theatre conducting Ricky Ian Gordon’s 27, and a return to Opera Theatre of Saint Louis for performances of  Gluck’s Orfeo and Patricia Racette’s production of La traviata. Mr. Kalb also assisted Corrado Rovaris with Anna Bolena and Yves Abel with L’elisir d’amore at Canadian Opera Company, as well as Alexander Polianichko with Lucia di Lammermoor at Florida Grand Opera, and Stephen Lord with La fanciulla del West at Michigan Opera Theatre. Orchestral appearances include leading the Center Stage concert at Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, appearances with the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, Orquesta Carlos Chávez in Mexico City, Orquestra Sinfonica da USP in Sao Paulo Brazil, and the San Francisco premiere of Rossini’s La scala di seta. Honors and awards include being named the winner of the American Prize for an Orchestral Composition, 2nd Prize in the Washington International Composition Competition, and 1st Prize in the Ann Arbor Symphony Sight and Sound Competition. A native of Mexico City, Mexico Mr. Kalb holds degrees from the University of Michigan, the New England Conservatory of Music, and the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.

The Detroit Opera Orchestra is rapidly gaining recognition for its “vibrantly colored” performances (New Yorker), performing throughout the season in the Detroit Opera House and in the wider metro Detroit community. Chosen through a competitive national audition process, musicians come from as close as Detroit, Ann Arbor and Grosse Pointe to Pennsylvania, New York, and more; many serve on the faculties at area universities and conservatories. During the 2023–24 season, the orchestra performs in four operas: Madame Butterfly, Europeras 3 & 4, Breaking the Waves, and The Cunning Little Vixen. The orchestra can be seen and heard outside the Opera House as well; “Beyond the Pit,” a free concert series in the Detroit community curated by Music Director Roberto Kalb, features mostly symphonic music. The first concert in “Beyond the Pit” takes place on December 16, 2023 at Western High School in Detroit.