Roberto Domingos was born in Brazil, where he studied piano with Henriqueta Garcez Duarte at the School of Music and Fine Arts of Paraná. After winning several prizes at national music competitions, he decided to continue studies in Germany.
As a Brazilian National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq) and German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) scholarship recipient, he completed postgraduate studies with Fany Solter and Dinorah Varsi at the University of Music Karlsruhe, where he graduated with a concert exam. He also studied songwriting with Ulrich Rademacher, graduating with honors. A Brazilian-Soviet cultural exchange scholarship sent him to work with the Georgian pianist Rudolf Kehrer at the Moscow State Tchaikovsky Conservatory.
Since 1993, Roberto Domingo has been a lecturer in piano at the University of Music Karlsruhe, where he served on the Senate from 1999 to 2010. In addition to his university duties, he leads seminars and master classes in Germany and overseas and is a frequent juror at national and international piano competitions. He has given master classes in China, Korea, Germany, and Brazil. He also works as a teacher at the Western Enz District School for Music and Art (Kunst- und Musikschule Westlicher Enzkreis). Many of his students have won prizes in national and international music competitions. In July 2007, he was promoted to a professorship at the University of Music Karlsruhe in recognition of his merit and achievements.
His chamber music partners include Sebastian Manz, Sontraud Speidel, Fany Solter, Stefan Heinemeyer, Christoph Schickedanz, Nabil Shehata, Anne-Catherine Heinzmann, Koh Kameda, Camillo Radicke, and Martin Ostertag.
In addition to performing, Domingos is also involved in planning, organizing, and supervising the pro arte Königsbach-Stein concert series for the university alumni association as deputy chairman of the Adler Büttner Foundation and as deputy equal opportunities commissioner.
As soloist, chamber musician and lied accompanist, Domingos has performed in Brazil, Germany, Spain, the United Kingdom, Poland, Greece, China, Korea, Russia, Switzerland, and Albania, playing with renowned partners and orchestras. Radio, CD and TV recordings in Brazil, Poland, and Germany complete his wide range of activities.
Roberto Domingos sees music as a humanistic interplay of all the arts. It is particularly important to him to maintain the joy of making music in his students by responding to their personalities in the most motivating way possible. He sees the presence of a teacher and the continuity of work at a university as an important building block for successful studies. The "Associazione Cultura e Musica G. Curci - Barletta - Italy" honoured the artist with the Muzio Clementi Prize 2018.
Roberto Domingos was elected Prorector of the Karlsruhe University of Music on 19 April 2023.