Famed bass-baritone signs off at 84
NewsThe splendid Simon Estes will leave the stage for the last time next month with a Porgy and Bess at Des Moines Metro Opera, in Iowa.
But he won’t be singing Porgy. Just the lawyer Frazier.
And he will continue teaching as a professor at Iowa State University and Des Moines Area Community College.
What’s 84 these days? Ask Domingo.
Domingo is *only* 81, so what would he know?
Remember doing the third act of Die Walkure with him at the Proms when playing with the NYO in 1990. He was Wotan and when he started singing there was an audible gasp amongst my fellow musicians. It was the most incredible sound. About 120 people fell in love with him that day. Brilliant man.
Enjoyed your memory of SE. He had a phenominal instrument which he used to good effect.
yes, indeed, one of the most beautiful – and most moving – voices ever.
The picture reminds me how old I am. I remember a time when Simon Estes was opera’s answer to Sidney Poitier. Superb artist.
Just FYI the role of lawyer Frazier is not a singing role, but a spoken one.
I well remember his wondrously rich voice when he was an excellent Sarastro in Scottish Opera’s Magic Flute in 1971. I believe this was his British debut and long before he was recognised in his native United States.
I could see him in Bayreuth. Also in Washington DC as Wotan. Artists like him are rare.
What a terrific singer. One of the very few who could share a stage with Matti Salminen and not be dominated by him.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hk4bkg6nG_Q&t=127s
I played a Haydn Creation with Simon and Kathleen Battle with Musica Sacra at Lincoln Center way back when she was just starting out. Still the most magical musical evening of my long career.