Timeline

1964

Debuts

New York City Opera debut Faust (Valentin, opposite Norman Treigle as Mephistopheles)

1963

Debuts

Sings Carmina Burana at Chicago’s Grant Park Festival, conducted by Julius Rudel

1961

Debuts

Wins Ford Foundation prize, which leads to debuts in the early 1960s with regional opera companies, such as Baltimore (Andrea Chenier), Cincinnati (Il Trovatore), Houston (Pagliacci), Pittsburgh (Pagliacci), and San Antonio (Faust)

1960

First Jobs

1960-61, Spends summers at Tanglewood in Boris Goldovsky’s opera workshop

1960

First Jobs

Signs with Herbert Barrett Management (still with same management, now called Barrett Vantage Artists)

1960

First Jobs

Professional opera debut in Boris Goldovsky Opera Company (Masetto in Don Giovanni); tours for five years with the company, traveling more than 100,000 miles and singing more than 300 performances of a dozen operas

1959

First Jobs

Son Eric is born

1959

First Jobs

Becomes an apprentice artist at Santa Fe Opera

1958

First Jobs

Joins Fritz Reiner’s newly formed Chicago Symphony Orchestra Chorus, directed by Margaret Hillis; begins voice over work singing on commercials (which he continues for many years)

1958

First Jobs

1958-64, Studies voice with Hermanus Baer at Northwestern University