George Shirley

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
George Shirley (1961)

George Irving Shirley (born April 18, 1934 in Indianapolis ) is an American opera singer . He was the first African American tenor to receive leading roles at the Metropolitan Opera .

Live and act

Shirley received musical training as a child. He grew up in Detroit and was active as a solo and choir singer in churches in the region. He also played the piano and wind instruments and was a baritone horn player in a local band. He later studied music at Wayne State University and took singing lessons from Amos Ebersole . After completing his bachelor's degree in 1955, he was drafted into the US Army and there - also as the first African American - a member of the United States Army Chorus. From 1959 he was able to continue his vocal training with Themy Georgi while still in service .

His professional career began with his debut at the Amato Opera in New York as Eisenstein in Die Fledermaus . He then got an engagement in Siena, where he sang Rodolfo in La Bohème . In 1961 he won the Metropolitan Opera Auditions and made his debut as Conte Almaviva in Gioachino Rossini's Il barbiere di Siviglia . This was followed by roles such as Ferrando in Così fan tutte , Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni , Tamino in the Magic Flute , Prisoner in Fidelio , Elvino in La sonnambula , Nemorino in L'elisir d'amore , Alfredo in La traviata , Beppe in Pagliacci , the helmsman in the Flying Dutchman , the sailor in Tristan and Isolde , Fenton in Falstaff , the god- fool in Boris Godunow , Naraboth in Salome and the Italian singer in Rosenkavalier .

Shirley has mastered the subject of the lyric tenor as well as that of the dramatic and buffotenor . He appeared in operettas as well as in performances of modern works (for example in the title role of Igor Stravinski's Oedipus Rex ) and sang as tenor-baritone in Pierre Boulez 's recording of Claude Debussy's Pelléas et Mélisande . His venues included the Royal Opera House Covent Garden London, the Deutsche Oper Berlin, the Teatro Colòn Buenos Aires, the Chicago Lyric Opera, the San Francisco Opera, the Nederlandse Opera Amsterdam, the Opéra de Monte Carlo, the New York City Opera , Scottish Opera Glasgow, Washington Opera, Michigan Opera Theater, and Santa Fe Opera House.

In addition to appearances in more than 80 opera roles, Shirley was also active as a lieder, oratorio and concert singer. Among the conductors he worked with were Otto Klemperer , Josef Krips , Igor Stravinsky , Jascha Horenstein , Eugene Ormandy , Erich Leinsdorf , Herbert von Karajan , Karl Böhm , Sir John Pritchard , Antal Dorati , Leonard Bernstein , Sir Georg Solti , Pierre Boulez , Bernard Haitink , Sir Colin Davis , Seiji Ozawa , Thomas Schippers , Julius Rudel , Alexander Gibson and Lorin Maazel . From 1980 he was professor of singing at the University of Maryland . In 1987 he moved to the University of Michigan Music School . He was also a faculty member at the Aspen Music Festival and School in Colorado between 1988 and 1998, was a visiting professor at the South African College of Music in Cape Town and gave masterclasses and private lessons for young singers in Beijing in 2013.

swell

personal data
SURNAME Shirley, George
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Shirley, George Irving (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American opera singer (tenor)
DATE OF BIRTH April 18, 1934
PLACE OF BIRTH Indianapolis