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Jess Thomas





OPERATIC CAREER


Thomas made his operatic debut in 1957 for the San Francisco Opera performing in '' Der Rosenkavalier '' as the Haushofmeister. In 1958, he debuted in the title role of '' Lohengrin '' for the Karlsruhe Staatstheater at the commencement of a career in Germany. Thomas appeared as Bacchus in '' Ariadne Auf Naxos '' at the Munich Festival.

It was at Bayreuth that he established his reputation as a Wagnerian tenor performing in the following roles:

  • Parsifal 1961-63, 1965;

  • Lohengrin 1962, 1967;

  • Walther in ''Meistersinger'' 1963,1969;

  • Tannhäuser 1966-67; and

  • Siegfried 1969, 1976.


In 1963, he joined the cast of the Metropolitan Opera appearing in 95 performances for 15 years. Amongst the highlights of his career with the Metropolitan Opera was appearing at the opening of the Lincoln Center hall in the first performance of Samuel Barber's '' Anthony And Cleopatra '' with Leontyne Price .

Thomas's farewell performance took place in Washington DC in a guest performance of ''Parsifal'' by the Metropolitan Opera in 1982.


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