Canadian bass Robert Pomakov begins the 2012/2013 season with his San Francisco Opera debut as Monterone in Rigoletto under the baton of Nicola Luisotti. He then makes a return to Houston Grand Opera to open the company’s season in performances of Benoit in a new production of La Boheme as well as Haly in a new production of L'italiana in Algeri. Pomakov then returns to the Metropolitan Opera where he sings Monterone in the Michael Mayer’s new staging of Rigoletto. In addition to his active operatic calendar, Mr. Pomakov is the bass soloist in performances of Mozart’s Requiem in D Minor with the National Arts Centre Orchestra, New Jersey Symphony, and Orchestre Symphonique de Trois-Rivières. He also sings with the Calgary Philharmonic in performances of the Verdi Requiem.

Highlights of past seasons include performances with the Canadian Opera Company, Houston Grand Opera, Los Angeles Opera, among others.  Notable appearances include his Washington Opera debut as Leporello in Don Giovanni in a new production conducted by Plácido Domingo, his debut at the Teatro Real as Nikitich in Boris Godunov conducted by Jesus Lopez-Cobos and opposite Samuel Ramey, a repeat of Varlaam for his debut at the Theatre Royale de la Monnaie in Brussels, the role of the Chamberlain in a  new production of Le Rossignol by visionary director Robert Lepage in a co-production with the Canadian Opera Company and Brooklyn Academy of Music and a joining of the roster of the Metropolitan Opera for the title role of a new production of Verdi’s Attila by Pierre Audi conducted by Riccardo Muti. 

Aside from his staged opera performances, Pomakov has performed with a number of concert organizations such as Le Festival de Lanaudière, Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Ravinia Festival, National Arts Centre Orchestra, Edinburgh Festival, Royal Conservatory of Music, Pacific Symphony, among others.  Notable concert performances of past seasons include his Ravinia Festival debut in Beethoven's Choral Fantasy conducted by James Conlon, the role of Virgil in Rachmaninov's Francesca da Rimini and the Hector Berlioz version of Der Freischütz all under the baton of Christoph Eschenbach, his Canadian Opera Company debut in a concert with baritone Dmitri Hvorostovsky, the Roy Thomson Hall Millennium Opera Gala with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra (released on CBC Records), Shostakovich's Symphony no. 14 with the Canadian Opera Company, a European tour of Handel's Apollo e Dafne (Released on Naxos Records), his Concertgebouw debut with the European Union Baroque Orchestra and performances of Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 with the National Arts Centre Orchestra and Orchestre Métropolitain under the direction of Yannick Nézet-Séguin.

Recital credits include two recitals at Toronto's Glenn Gould Studio one of which was broadcast by the CBC.

Robert Pomakov has been a prizewinner in several of the world's premier singing competitions: a finalist in the Queen Elizabeth Competition in Belgium, second place at the Belvedere Competition in Vienna and third place in Plácido Domingo's Operalia. In September 2006, Mr. Pomakov was decorated with the Simeon, the First Honorary Medal from the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Bulgaria, and with a diploma from the Minister of Culture for his achievements in opera's art and special merit to Bulgarian culture and its dissemination all over the world. Other prizes have included first prize in the 2000 Oratorio Society of New York's solo competition, an encouragement award in the 2000 George London Foundation Competition, an encouragement award from the Marilyn Horne Foundation Competition, the 1999 Victoria Scholars Grant, Second Prize in the 1998 Canadian Music Competition and First Prize in the 1997 Kiwanis Music Festival in Toronto.  Pomakov is a graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music.