Roland Kessler

Biography

Waterloo-born baritone Roland Kessler grew up backstage and on ballroom floors in a professional dance family. After establishing a career in tech, he returned to performance, studying first with Jen Carter and then at Wilfrid Laurier University with Kimberly Barber. Credits include Peter, Hansel and Gretel (Grand River Opera); Il Conte, Le nozze di Figaro, and Papageno, Die Zauberflöte (Keystone Opera); Achilla, Giulio Cesare (Summer Opera Lyric Theatre); Figaro, Le nozze di Figaro, The Baker, Into the Woods, and Friedrich Bhaer, Little Women (Opera Laurier); Sir Thomas Bertram, Mansfield Park, and Immigration Officer, Flight (NUOVA Vocal Arts); and Marchese d’Obigny, La traviata (Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony). Goals: Brain health and dementia advocacy through music and performance. Offstage: motorsports, volleyball, banjo.