‘He was shaping a generation of young artists’: Winnipeg director Rob Herriot has died at 60

Prolific Winnipeg director and performer Rob Herriot has died.

Herriot was well known for his work within opera and musical theatre in Winnipeg and across North America. He died Friday at 60 years old. Loved ones described his death as sudden, and the cause had not yet been determined Sunday.

“He was such an enormous part of the opera community locally here in Winnipeg… as a director, he was shaping a generation of young artists in the community,” Manitoba Opera executive director Michael Blais said Sunday. “I think that’s what the real loss is to the opera community, in that way.”

Herriot’s work in Manitoba included directing productions of Cosí fan Tutte, Madama Butterfly, La Bohème, Carmen, and, most recently, The Marriage of Figaro for Manitoba Opera, Cinderella, The Wizard of Oz and Beauty and the Beast for Rainbow Stage, and Three Decembers, The Walk from the Garden and The House Without a Christmas Tree for the Little Opera Company.

He also directed productions with the Calgary, Vancouver, Hamilton, Kelowna and Edmonton operas, along with shows across the United States.

Herriot is survived by his husband, Lars Treloar, who described him as “the bright light in our family” who was as devoted to their love as he was his career.

“He shouldn’t have been taken away now, because he was right at the top of his (career), things go the way things go,” Treloar, 73, said. “I’m going to miss him more than I’ve ever missed anything in my life.”

The pair married two years ago, and always made a point to seek out joy anywhere they went, said Treloar.

“We didn’t have time to not have a good time, and we just knew how to do that,” he said.

”You don’t always get that magic in your life, and Rob Herriot was pure magic.”

Herriot began his career in Winnipeg as a singer. Among his early performances was the role of Romeo in the 1992 production of City Workers in Love at the Winnipeg Fringe Festival, written by veteran opera composer and conductor Neil Weisensel.

“He was a very, very fun guy to be around. He was an excellent, excellent singer — he totally could have had a career as an opera singer, in my humble opinion, but he kind of had stage fright,” said Weisensel.

Herriot quickly moved to directing, where he spent the majority of his career.

He and Weisensel most recently worked together last summer, his wry spark only growing brighter over the decades: Weisensel recalled Herriot’s comedic timing was so impeccable, when he would give the slightest direction to add comedy to a performance, his notes would result in the biggest laughs from the audience.

“I don’t know anybody, personally, that has that kind of touch, the deft touch for comedy,” he said.

At the Little Opera Company, where Herriot had been involved for over a decade, he was “a bit of a Pied Piper” who easily drew in collaboration from others with his “brilliant personality,” said artistic director Spencer Duncanson.

“When he lent his energy and talents to different projects, he brought with it creativity that was unique to him, and that creativity was able to bring some of the most mundane subjects to life,” he said.

“I think we’ll miss that gift that he had, we’ll miss his personality, we’ll miss his quirkiness. He was quirky in many ways, too.”

While Herriot received recognition for his work, Duncanson wishes he had been celebrated more while he was here to see it.

“Why do we wait till a person passes to celebrate them, you know?” he said. “I think he was brilliant, and unfortunately, that brilliance was not always celebrated to the extent that it might have been.”

Herriot served in a number of mentorship roles, including with the University of Manitoba’s Desautels Faculty of Music and Edmonton’s Nuova Vocal Arts.

Sara Schabas, a Winnipeg-based opera singer who most recently worked with Herriot on The House Without a Christmas Tree at the Little Opera Company in December, said she will miss his support, both on stage and off.

She fondly remembered Herriot and his husband driving around the city to source local antiques for Winnipeg productions — an example of the extra love and care they gave to hometown shows, even when they had productions across the continent on the go.

“It’s such a highly competitive industry, so having champions can really make a difference when you’re having those lulls between contracts,” she said.

“He was just a wonderful presence.”

malak.abas@freepress.mb.ca