A familiar voice as a panelist on the Metropolitan Opera broadcasts’ “Opera Quiz” since 2006, Roger Pines has held positions at The Dallas Opera, San Diego Opera, and Lyric Opera of Chicago. At Lyric he was dramaturg, program editor, and the live opening-night broadcasts’ co-host/co-producer, as well as both special lecturer and consultant to the young-artist program.
Having concluded his 26-year Lyric tenure in 2021, Pines has developed a thriving freelance career highlighted by lecturing for the opera programs of the Yale University School of Music, the Curtis Institute of Music, and the University of Texas at Austin; writing feature articles for Opera magazine (U.K.), Liner Notes online music magazine, San Francisco Opera, and The Dallas Opera; and co-creating and co-presenting an online series of programs on historically important singers (for which Pines has collaborated with baritone Thomas Hampson). Pines has written for the programs of every major North American opera company, as well as for CDs on eight major recording labels. Most recently he contributed in-depth essays for several reissued box sets on Decca of legendary performances by Luciano Pavarotti.
Pines has judged for many important competitions, including the Metropolitan Opera’s Laffont competition (since 1991), Young Texas Artists, Classical Singer magazine’s national vocal competition, and the Handel Aria Competition. A member of Northwestern University’s Bienen School of Music Voice and Opera faculty, Pines began his career as a professional countertenor, performing with prominent early-music ensembles in Austria, Germany, Italy, and Serbia.