Thomas Stewart (singer)
Thomas Stewart (born July 29, 1928 in San Saba , Texas , United States , † September 24, 2006 in Rockville , Maryland ) was an American opera singer with a bass-baritone voice .
Life
Stewart studied at the Juilliard School in New York and started out as a concert singer. In 1957 he made his debut at the Städtische Oper in Berlin , where he sang until 1964 and acquired his accent-free mastery and strikingly clear pronunciation of German. Stewart sang at the Bayreuth Festival from 1960 to 1972. Until the 1990s, he was considered one of the leading Wagner bass baritones of his time. He also took part in the 1961 world premiere of Arnold Schönberg's unfinished masterpiece “ The Jacob's Ladder ”. Stewart was heard at the Vienna State Opera from 1960 to 1975. He sang at the San Francisco Opera from 1960 to 1991. He sang at the New York Metropolitan Opera from 1966 to 1984 and again from 1991 to 1993.
Thomas Stewart was married to the soprano Evelyn Lear .
Musical classification
Thomas Stewart was one of the best singers of the transition between the generation of Hans Hotter , George London and Ferdinand Frantz on the one hand and that of Willard White and John Tomlinson on the other. Stewart, like Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau , Theo Adam and Donald McIntyre - the other great singers in his vocal field of his generation - was a master of clear articulation and vocal nuance.
Discography (selection)
- With Herbert von Karajan : Das Rheingold (as Wotan), Die Walküre (as Wotan), Siegfried (as Wanderer), Götterdämmerung (as Gunther)
- With Rafael Kubelík : Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (as Hans Sachs), Lohengrin (as Telramund), 9th Symphony
- With Hans Knappertsbusch : Parsifal (as Amfortas)
- With Pierre Boulez : Parsifal (as Amfortas)
- With Karl Böhm : The Flying Dutchman (as The Dutchman), Götterdämmerung (as Gunther), Elektra (as Orestes)
- With Karl Richter : Samson (as Manoa), A German Requiem
- With Heinrich Hollreiser : Jonny plays (as Daniello)
- With Kurt Eichhorn : Iphigénie en Aulide (as Kalchas), Die Kluge (as Der König)
Web links
- Works by and about Thomas Stewart in the catalog of the German National Library
- Thomas Stewart in the Bavarian Musicians' Lexicon Online (BMLO)
- "Thomas Stewart, 78, Baritone Opera on Stage, Dies" , New York Times 26 September 2006
- "Thomas Stewart, One of Opera's Great Baritones, has Died at Age 78," The Metropolitan Opera , NYC , September 26, 2006
personal data | |
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SURNAME | Stewart, Thomas |
BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American opera singer (bass baritone) |
DATE OF BIRTH | July 29, 1928 |
PLACE OF BIRTH | San Saba, Texas , USA |
DATE OF DEATH | September 24, 2006 |
Place of death | Rockville, Maryland |