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Sherrill Milnes

 
Sherrill Milnes

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Sherrill Milnes



 
 
Sherrill Milnes (born January 10, 1935) is an American
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
 operatic baritone
Baritone

Baritone is a type of European classical music male voice type that lies between the bass and tenor voices. It is the most common male voice....
 most famous for his Verdi
Giuseppe Verdi

Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi was an Italian Romantic music composer, mainly of opera. He was one of the most influential composers in the 19th century....
 roles. From 1965 until 1997 he was associated with the Metropolitan Opera
Metropolitan Opera

The Metropolitan Opera Association of New York City, founded in April 1880, is a major presenter of all types of opera including Grand Opera. Peter Gelb is the company's general manager and James Levine is music director....
.

His voice is a high baritone, combining good legato with an incisive rhythmic style; furthermore, he has a commanding and handsome stage presence. By 1965 had made his debut at the Metropolitan Opera. His international debuts followed soon thereafter, and Milnes became one of the world's prominent Verdi baritones of the 1970s and 80s.

He has been a prolific recording artist, often in partnership with Plácido Domingo
Plácido Domingo

Jos? Pl?cido Domingo Embil Order of the British Empire , better known as Pl?cido Domingo, is a Spanish tenor, known for his versatile and strong voice, possessing a ringing and dramatic tone throughout its range....
 and Luciano Pavarotti
Luciano Pavarotti

Luciano Pavarotti Italian orders of merit was an Italian opera tenor, who also crossed over into popular music. He was the most commercially successful tenor of all....
.

es was born in Downers Grove, Illinois
Downers Grove, Illinois

Downers Grove is a village in Downers Grove Township, DuPage County, Illinois, DuPage County, Illinois, Illinois, located west of Chicago. The population was 48,724 at the 2000 United States Census....
 to a dairy farmer and his wife.






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Encyclopedia


Sherrill Milnes (born January 10, 1935) is an American
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
 operatic baritone
Baritone

Baritone is a type of European classical music male voice type that lies between the bass and tenor voices. It is the most common male voice....
 most famous for his Verdi
Giuseppe Verdi

Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi was an Italian Romantic music composer, mainly of opera. He was one of the most influential composers in the 19th century....
 roles. From 1965 until 1997 he was associated with the Metropolitan Opera
Metropolitan Opera

The Metropolitan Opera Association of New York City, founded in April 1880, is a major presenter of all types of opera including Grand Opera. Peter Gelb is the company's general manager and James Levine is music director....
.

His voice is a high baritone, combining good legato with an incisive rhythmic style; furthermore, he has a commanding and handsome stage presence. By 1965 had made his debut at the Metropolitan Opera. His international debuts followed soon thereafter, and Milnes became one of the world's prominent Verdi baritones of the 1970s and 80s.

He has been a prolific recording artist, often in partnership with Plácido Domingo
Plácido Domingo

Jos? Pl?cido Domingo Embil Order of the British Empire , better known as Pl?cido Domingo, is a Spanish tenor, known for his versatile and strong voice, possessing a ringing and dramatic tone throughout its range....
 and Luciano Pavarotti
Luciano Pavarotti

Luciano Pavarotti Italian orders of merit was an Italian opera tenor, who also crossed over into popular music. He was the most commercially successful tenor of all....
.

Early life

Milnes was born in Downers Grove, Illinois
Downers Grove, Illinois

Downers Grove is a village in Downers Grove Township, DuPage County, Illinois, DuPage County, Illinois, Illinois, located west of Chicago. The population was 48,724 at the 2000 United States Census....
 to a dairy farmer and his wife. As a child, he exhibited strong and varied musical talents. In addition to singing, he also played piano
Piano

The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard instrument. Widely used in Western music for solo performance, ensemble use, chamber music, and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to musical composition and rehearsal....
, violin
Violin

The violin is a Bow string instrument with four strings usually tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest and highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which also includes the viola and cello....
, viola
Viola

The viola is a bowed string instrument. It is the middle voice of the violin family, between the violin and the cello.The casual observer may mistake the viola for the violin because of their similarity in size, closeness in pitch range , and nearly identical playing position....
, double bass
Double bass

The double bass or contrabass is the largest and lowest-pitched Bow string instrument used in the modern orchestra. It is a standard member of the string section of the orchestra and smaller string musical ensembles in European classical music....
, clarinet
Clarinet

The clarinet is a musical instrument in the woodwind family. The name derives from adding the suffix -et meaning little to the Italian word clarino meaning a particular type of trumpet, as the first clarinets had a strident tone similar to that of a trumpet....
, and tuba
Tuba

The tuba is the largest and lowest pitched brass instrument. Sound is produced by vibrating or "buzzing" the lips into a large cupped Mouthpiece ....
. Although his interests did not always lean towards opera, he spent many hours singing to his father's cows, and once was found on a tractor practicing an operatic laugh.

While in high school, Milnes planned to be an anaesthesiologist, but later returned to music, studying music education at Drake University
Drake University

Drake University is a private, co-educational university located in the city of Des Moines, Iowa, United States. The institution offers a number of undergraduate and graduate programs, as well as professional programs in law and pharmacy....
 and Northwestern University
Northwestern University

Northwestern University is a non-sectarian private university research university located in Evanston, Illinois and downtown Chicago, Illinois, United States....
, with the idea of becoming a teacher. After graduating, he spent a summer as an apprentice at the Santa Fe Opera
Santa Fe Opera

The Santa Fe Opera is an American opera company, located north of Santa Fe, New Mexico in the U.S. state of New Mexico, headquartered on a former guest ranch of ....
 and thereafter dedicated himself to becoming an opera singer, studying briefly with the famed soprano Rosa Ponselle
Rosa Ponselle

Rosa Ponselle , was an American operatic soprano. She sang mainly at the New York Metropolitan Opera and is generally considered by music critics to have been one of the greatest sopranos of the past 100 years....
.

Career

Milnes began his career with the Boston Opera Company in 1960, joining Boris Goldovsky
Boris Goldovsky

Boris Goldovsky was a promoter and popularizer of opera working in the United States of America. As a broadcaster, impresario, and conductor, he became prominent within the American operatic community between 1946 and 1979....
's Opera Theater, and debuting as Masetto in Don Giovanni
Don Giovanni

Don Giovanni is an opera in two acts with music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and with Italian language libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte. It was premiered in the Estates Theatre in Prague on October 29, 1787 in music....
. In 1961, he made his debut at Ponselle's Baltimore Opera as Gérard in André Chénier.

In 1964, Milnes made his first major breakthrough singing the role of Valentin in Gounod's Faust
Faust (opera)

Faust is an opera in five acts by Charles Gounod to a French language libretto by Jules Barbier and Michel Carr? from Carr?'s play Faust et Marguerite, in turn loosely based on Goethe's Faust Part One....
 at the New York City Opera
New York City Opera

The New York City Opera was founded in 1943 with the aim of an opera company that would be financially accessible to a wide audience, innovative in its choice of repertory, and a home for United States singers and composers....
, the role with which he also made his Metropolitan Opera debut in 1965.

In 1964, Milnes also made his European debut singing "Figaro" from The Barber of Seville
The Barber of Seville

The Barber of Seville, or The Useless Precaution is an opera buffa in two acts by Gioachino Rossini with a libretto by Cesare Sterbini. The overture, first written for Aureliano in Palmira, is a famous example of Rossini's characteristic Italian style....
 at the Teatro Nuovo in Milan
Milan

Milan is the second largest city of Italy, located in the plains of Lombardy. It is the capital in the Province of Milan, as well as the Regions of Italy capital of Lombardy....
. However, it was his performance as Miller in Verdi's Luisa Miller
Luisa Miller

Luisa Miller is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Salvatore Cammarano, based on the Play Kabale und Liebe by Friedrich von Schiller....
 in 1968 which catapulted him into international fame.

In the early 1980s, Milnes experienced vocal health problems, but he eventually surmounted them.

In 1998, Milnes published a memoir, American Aria (ISBN ).

Starting in 2001, Milnes has been bringing his experience and expertise to young rising operatic talent through V.O.I.C.E. (Vocal and Operatic Intensive Creative Experience), which he founded in 2001 with his third wife, Maria Zouves. Their workshops allow educators and performers to share their knowledge through master classes, private coachings, presentations, one-on-one consultations, lectures, and performances. They strive to create a realistic view of the many challenges that singers face throughout their career. The auditor program allows both opera lovers and singers a unique interaction in the creative process.

Milnes is currently a professor emeritus in voice at Northwestern University
Northwestern University

Northwestern University is a non-sectarian private university research university located in Evanston, Illinois and downtown Chicago, Illinois, United States....
. He is a recipient of Yale University
Yale University

Yale University is a private university in New Haven, Connecticut. Founded in 1701 as the Collegiate School, Yale is the Colonial Colleges institution of higher education in the United States and is a member of the Ivy League....
's Sanford Medal.

Discography


Cassettes

  • Essential Opera
  • A Grand Night for Singing (Mormon Tabernacle Choir, Columbia Symphony – Ottley, cond.)
  • Opera's Greatest Duets
  • Sherrill Milnes at the Met


CDs

- 1967 -
  • Mozart: Cosi fan tutte (with L. Price, Troyanos, Raskin, Shirley, Flagello – Leinsdorf, cond.)
  • Verdi: La traviata (with Caballe, Bergonzi – Pretre, cond.)


- 1968 -
  • R. Strauss: Salome (with Caballe, R. Lewis, Resnik, J. King – Leinsdorf, cond.)


- 1969 -
  • Beethoven: Symphony No. 9, "Choral" (with J. Marsh, Veasey, Domingo – Leinsdorf, cond.)
  • Verdi: Il trovatore (with L. Price, Domingo, Cossotto – Mehta, cond.)


- 1970 -
  • Verdi: Aida (with L. Price, Domingo, Bumbry, Raimondi – Leinsdorf, cond.)
  • Verdi: Macbeth (with Ludwig, Cossutta – Boehm, cond.) Live recording


- 1971 -
  • Great Opera Duets (with Domingo)
  • Verdi: Un ballo in maschera (with Tebaldi, Pavarotti -- Bartoletti, cond.)
  • Verdi: Don Carlos (with Domingo, Caballe, Raimondi, Verrett -- Giulini, cond.)
  • Donizetti: Lucia di Lammermoor (with Sutherland, Pavarotti, Ghiaurov -- Bonynge, cond.)
  • Leoncavallo: Pagliacci / Puccini: Il tabarro (Pagliacci: with Caballe, Domingo -- Santi, cond. Tabarro: with L. Price, Domingo -- Leinsdorf, cond.)
  • Verdi: Rigoletto (with Sutherland, Pavarotti, Tourangeau -- Bonynge, cond.)


- 1972 -
  • Verdi: Attila (with Raimondi, Deutekom, Bergonzi -- Gardelli, cond.)
  • Verdi: Giovanna d'Arco (with Caballe, Domingo -- Levine, cond.)


- 1973 -
  • Domingo Conducts Milnes – Milnes Conducts Domingo
  • Puccini: Tosca (with L. Price, Domingo – Mehta, cond.)


- 1974 -
  • Puccini: La bohème (with Caballe, Domingo, Blegen, Sardinero, Raimondi – Solti, cond.)
  • Verdi: I vespri siciliani (with Arroyo, Domingo, Raimondi – Levine, cond.)


- 1975 -
  • Rossini: Il barbiere di Siviglia (with Sills, Gedda, Capecchi, Raimondi, Barbieri – Levine, cond.)
  • Verdi: Luisa Miller (with Pavarotti, Caballe – Maag, cond.)
  • Massenet's La Navarraise (with Horne, Domingo, Bacquier – H. Lewis, cond.)
  • Verdi: Il trovatore [with bonus tracks from a 1968 recording of Act II with Richard Tucker] (with Caballe, Cossutta, Arkhipova – Guadagno, cond.)


- 1976 -
  • Giordano: Andrea Chenier (with Scotto, Domingo – Levine, cond.)
  • Verdi: Macbeth (with Cossotto, Carreras, Raimondi – Muti, cond.)
  • Massenet: Thais (with Sills, Gedda, van Allan – Maazel, cond.)


- 1977 -
  • Cilea: Adriana Lecouvreur (with Scotto, Domingo, Obraztsova – Levine, cond.)
  • Bizet: Carmen (with Berganza, Domingo, Cotrubas – C. Abbado, cond.)
  • Puccini: La fanciulla del West (with Neblett, Domingo – Mehta, cond.)
  • Verdi: La forza del destino (with L. Price, Domingo, Cossotto, Giaiotti, Bacquier – Levine, cond.)
  • Verdi: La traviata (with Cotrubas, Domingo – Kleiber, cond.)


- 1978 -
  • Bravissimo, Domingo! Arias and Duets with Leontyne Price and Sherrill Milnes
  • Rossini: Guglielmo Tell (with Freni, Pavarotti, Mazzoli, Jones, Ghiaurov – Chailly, cond.)
  • Verdi: Otello (with Scotto, Domingo – Levine, cond.)
  • Verdi: Rigoletto (with Sills, Kraus, M. Dunn, Ramey – Rudel, cond.)
  • Puccini: Tosca (with Freni, Pavarotti – Rescigno, cond.)


- 1980 -
  • Massenet: Le roi de Lahore (with Sutherland, Lima, Ghiaurov, Morris, Tourangeau – Bonynge, cond.)


- 1981 -
  • Ponchielli: La Gioconda (with Caballe, Baltsa, Pavarotti, Ghiaurov – Bartoletti, cond.)


- 1986 -
  • Ponchielli: La Gioconda (with Marton, Ramey, Lamberti – Patane, cond.)


- 1990 -
  • Faure: Requiem (with Te Kanawa – Dutoit, cond.)


- 1992 -
  • Orff: Carmina Burana (with Mandac, Kolk – Ozawa, cond.)


- 2001 -
  • Wolf-Ferrari: Sly (with Carreras, Kabatu – Gimenez, cond.)


Recitals


  • Sherrill Milnes in Recital, Volume 1, "There but for You Go I" (Jon Spong, piano)
  • Sherrill Milnes in Recital, Volume 2, "Kingdom by the Sea" (Jon Spong, piano)
  • Met Legends: Sherrill Milnes
  • Grandi Voci: Arias (de la Fuente, cond.)
  • The Baritone Voice
  • Copland: Old American Songs
  • Griffes: Four German Songs; Songs of the Dagger (Ozawa, cond.)


DVDs


- 1976 -
  • Puccini: Tosca (with Kabaivanska, Domingo – Bartoletti, cond.)


-1979-
  • Verdi: "Luisa Miller" (with Scotto, Domingo, Morris; Levine, cond.)


- 1983 -
  • Verdi: Ernani (with L. Mitchell, Pavarotti, Raimondi – Levine, cond.)


- 1984 -
  • Verdi: Simon Boccanegra (with Tomowa-Sintow, Moldoveanu, Plishka – Levine, cond.)


- 1985 -
  • Verdi: Nabucco (with Bumbry, Cortez, Raimondi – Santi, cond.)
  • Sherrill Milnes: An All-Star Gala (various artists)


- 1986 -
  • Sherrill Milnes at Juilliard: An Opera Master Class


- 1988 -
  • Verdi: Il Trovatore (with Marton, Zajick, Pavarotti – Levine, cond.)


- 1989 -
  • Verdi: Aida (with Millo, Zajick, Domingo – Levine, cond.)


- 1991 -
  • Met's 25th Anniversary Gala at Lincoln Center (various artists)


- 1992 -
  • Puccini: La Fanciulla del West (with Daniels, Domingo – Slatkin, cond.)


- 1996 -
  • James Levine 25th Anniversary Gala (various artists)


External links