Praised by Graz’s Kleine Zeitung for his “velvet baritone” and a “powerfully trumpeting performance of Gianni Schicchi,” baritone Robert Wente is a versatile and passionate performer of opera and song in every form. He made his professional debut in January 2025 with Dallas Opera, performing several excerpts as Escamillo from Carmen and Diego Rivera from Gabriela Lena Frank’s El último sueño de Frida y Diego for the Hart Institute for Women Conductors showcase concert. He is currently pursuing an M.M. in Vocal Performance at Indiana University, where he completed his Bachelor of Science in Music degree with an outside field in Astronomy in spring 2023. He recently attended The American Institute of Musical Studies in Graz, Austria, where he performed the roles of Papageno and Gianni Schicchi in concert as well as scenes from Anna Bolena and La traviata, and was awarded first place in the Meistersinger Competition. Later this summer, he will attend the singer’s program of the Steans Institute at Ravinia. 

With IU Opera Theater, he performed as Escamillo in Carmen, Gerhard in the world premiere of Mason Bates’ The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, Nardo in Mozart’s La finta giardiniera, Masetto in Don Giovanni and Bob Becket in H.M.S. Pinafore. In addition to opera, Wente has also performed several oratorio works, including as bass soloist in Beethoven’s Mass in C and baritone soloist in Orff’s Carmina Burana.