  g(11696700)a(1393595))
| | King James | | tenore |   
| An American, he served in the marines from 1943-45 during World War II. After the war he studied music and voice at Louisiana State University. He completed his education in 1952 at Kansas City University and with Martial Singher in New York. For a time he taught at the University of Kentucky (1952-61), where he also served on the conducting faculty. In 1961, he began a singing career, debuting as a baritone. After a brief period of technical readjustment, he re-emerged as a tenor.He made his second debut with the San Francisco Opera in 1961 as the Italian tenor in Der Rosenkavalier and later as Don José. In 1963 he sang Lohengrin, his first Wagner role, at the Deutsche Oper Berlin, and thus embarked on a great career as Wagner specialist and sometime Heldentenor. He enjoyed great successes in Berlin as well as Munich, and made guest appearances at the Vienna Staatsoper (starting in 1963), Hamburg, Covent Garden in London (the great Wagner roles regularly from 1966 to 1977, Bacchus in 1988, Florestan in 1986) and many other leading houses. His assignments at the Salzburg Festival were Achilles in Gluck's Iphigénie en Aulide (1962-63), Ägisth in Elektra (1964), Florestan (1968-70, 1983), the Emperor in Die Frau ohne Schatten (1974-75), Bacchus (1976, 1980-82), Giove in Monteverdi's Il Ritorno d'Ulisse in Patria (1985-86). He also appeared in Salzburg concerts and recitals. In Bayreuth he sang Siegmund (1965-69, 1972-73, 1975), Parsifal (1967, 1970, 1972-73) and Lohengrin (1967-68). In 1966 he made his debut at the Metropolitan Opera in New York as Florestan. He initially sang there for eleven seasons (till 1987), in 78 performances of 11 different roles including Siegmund, Cavaradossi, Walther von Stolzing, the Emperor, Bacchus, Don José. Returning in 1989, he added Captain Vere in Benjamin Britten's Billy Budd and in 1994 Ägisth. In 1972 he made guest appearances in Paris as the Emperor, in 1983 at La Scala in Cherubini's Anacreon and at the Deutsche Opera Berlin as Paul in Korngold's Die Tote Stadt (a role he repeated two years later with the company in a North American tour). His career still continues at this writing: in 1990 he sang a concert performance of Die Frau ohne Schatten in Amsterdam plus Lohengrin in Nice, Herod at the Salzburg Festival and the Drum Major in Wozzeck at the Met. In 1991 he sang in Elektra at Aix-en-Provence, and in 1993 he ventured Verdi's Otello in Wiesbaden. In 1995 he sang a concert of Lieder and arias in New York. His powerful tenor voice, especially lauded in Wagner, can be heard on DGG (Frau ohne Schatten, Daphne, Meistersinger, Lohengrin, Parsifal), Decca (Salome, Fidelio, Parsifal, Walküre), Philips (Walküre), HMV-Electrola (Mathis der Maler by Hindemith), Eurodisc (Madama Butterfly), RCA (Samson et Dalila), HMV (Ariadne), Estro Armonico (Elektra), Capriccio (Notre Dame by Franz Schmidt), MRF (Étoile du Nord by Meyerbeer), Virgin (Elektra), Penzance (Iphigénie en Aulide). |
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