Robert Lloyd was born in Essex and educated at Oxford University. He began life as an academic historian, turning to a singing career at the age of 28. In 1972 he was appointed Principal Bass at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, where he sings an enormous repertoire. At the same time, he has developed a freelance operatic and concert career which has brought him to work with all the major Opera Houses and Orchestras throughout the world.
Robert Lloyd was the first British Bass to sing the title role in Mussorgsky's "Boris Godunov" at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, in the late Andre Tarkovsky's production in 1983. History was made in 1990 when the same production went to the Kirov Opera in Leningrad with Robert Lloyd as Boris (televised internationally) and in 1991 he sang in this production again under Claudio Abbado at the Vienna State Opera, He has sung Boris Godunov in Amsterdam and Florence.
Robert Lloyd has also appeared at La Scala, Milan ("Der Fliegende Hollander" and "Parsifal" under Multi); the San Francisco Opera ("Don Carlos" and "L'lncoronazione di Poppea''); the Chicargo Lyric Opera ("Simon Boccanegra" under Gatti); the Deutsche Opera, Berlin ("Tristan und Isolde") the NetherlandsOpera ("Pelleas et Melisande", "ristan und Isolde", "L'lcoronazione di Poppea" and Parsifal" under Simon Rattle); and the Salzburg Festival ("Peelleas et Melisande" and "Les Trovens" under Cambreling, "Le Nozze di Figaro" under Mackerras, "Die Zauberflote" under Dohnanyi and "Don Giovanni" umder Gerghiev). His many recent appearances at the Metropolitan Opera New York include "Rigoletto", "Parsifal", "Die Zauberflote", "Aida", "Faust", "Romeo et Juliette", "Simon Boccanegra","Fidelio" and "Pelleas et Melisande".His recent appearances at Covent Garden have included "Parsifal", "Aida", "Die Zauberflote", "Cherubin", "Romeo et Juliette" and Samson et Dalila". Future engagements include "Don Giovanni", "Tristan und Isoide" and "Hamlet at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, "Don Carlos" at the San Francisco Opera and "Rigoletto", "Otello", "Les Troyens", "Eugene Onegin", "Turandot", "Benvenuto Cellini" and "Aida at the Metropolitan Opera, New York.
He has appeared in concert with the Cleveland Orchestra under von Dohnanyi, the Philadelphia Orchestra under Jansons and the London Philharmonic Orchestra under Haitink. With the London Symphony Orchestra under Sir Colin Davis he performed and recorded Bottom in "A Midsummer Night's Dream", and he featured regularly in the "Berlioz Odyssey" at London's Barbican Concert Hall.
Robert Lloyd has featured in several highly successful television productions, and was the subject of, and presented, a BBC programme on the bass voice entitled "Six Foot Cinderella". He appeared in a television performance of "Duke Bluebeard's Castle on BBC2, which received the Royal Philharmonic Society Award for television. He has a vast discography of over seventy audio and video recordings. In the 1991 New Years Honours List Robert Lloyd was created a Commander of the British Empire (CBE) by her Majesty the Queen.
