#7 Top Bass-Baritones

7.) Thomas Stewart

          Now I’m starting a very difficult list to make.  Depending on the recording and how I feel, these bass-baritones can become my favorite singer for a role or aria.  This guy can easily be in my top three bass-baritone list on certain days.  Thomas Stewart is a beast!  

          First of all, he is the first american bass-baritone on my top ten list.  He was born in Texas and went to Baylor University and Juilliard.  At Juilliard he studied under Mark Harrell (a professional opera singer who made a career in lieder).  He made his debut at age twenty-six in Richard Strauss’s Capriccio.  At the beginning of his career, he took on the roles of the Commendatore, Don Fernando in Fidelio, Gunther and Donner (the Ring), and Amfortas. Escamillo helped establish himself in major opera companies throughout the world.  Right before his break into stardom, he was about to give up his opera career.  In an article by the New York Times, Kozinn stated, “Although Mr. Stewart found occasional roles with the Lyric Opera of Chicago and the New York City Opera, both he and Ms. Lear spent much of their time singing church jobs and doing choral and commercial work, and by 1956, Mr. Stewart was ready to give up. He was about to take a job with I.B.M. when he and Ms. Lear were notified that they had won Fulbright scholarships for study in Germany. They had been in Berlin only a few weeks when Mr. Stewart landed a place on the roster of the Berlin Städtische Oper, where he made his debut as Minister in Beethoven’s ‘Fidelio,’ in 1957. In 1960, he made his debut at Covent Garden, in London, as Escamillo in Bizet’s ‘Carmen’”(Kozinn, “Thomas Stewart, 78, Baritone on Opera Stage, Dies”).  I bring up this passage for all those singers that are about to give up.  It’s hard to enter this field and make a living and it seems that some just have a golden path set for their careers.  Yet, Thomas Stewart almost quit and took a job at IBM.  Without that Fullbright scholarship, the world would have lost one of the best opera singer and a legendary Wotan.  Trusting in God is probably all one can do.  There’s a lot of rejection, but like Thomas Stewart, it doesn’t mean singers won’t make it.  

          Of bass-baritones, he was on the higher-end fach wise.  I would even say that he verged on the heldon baritone.  This higher fach can be seen by some of his opera repertoire such as: Eugene in Eugene Onegin (like George London), Ford in Falstaff (like Bryn Terfel), and Count di Luna in Il Trovatore, Iago in Otello (listen to this performance and Iago on Met Opera on Demand).  However, I wouldn’t consider him anywhere higher than a heldon baritone (heldon baritone is basically a sub section of bass-baritone) and I would still classify him as a bass-baritone.  

          His most recognized roles are in Wagner repertoire, most notably Wotan.   Below you can hear live recordings of many sections from the Ring.  Kozinn stated in his article, “The conductor Herbert von Karajan singled out Mr. Stewart as his favorite Wotan, the amoral god in Wagner’s ‘Ring’ cycle”(Kozinn).  The reason Stewart was so incredible in Wagnerian repertoire was his passion for it.  Tim Page quotes Stewart in his article for the Washington Post, “‘Why were the works of Wagner so important to me as an artist?’ Stewart asked in an essay he wrote to accompany a recording. ‘It's because of the marriage of word and music, something every composer seeks to achieve but few accomplish with such perfection. Being a singer who becomes completely absorbed in the text he is singing, I naturally felt an affinity for this aspect of Wagner's art’(Page, “Thomas Stewart, A Singer and Man As Grand as Opera”).  This maybe one of my favorite quotes because this is what I look for in the music I sing.  When that perfect marriage between text and music intertwines and I am connected to it, it’s the reason I sing and perform.  This quote also explains one of the main reasons I love Wagner’s operas.  

              As a singer, he had a powerhouse voice with a sticking squillo, yet it was legato and tender in it’s portrayal of characters.  There are many recordings on Itunes and Youtube to listen to and I encourage anyone to study this artist.  Although I never heard him live, I can tell there is a lot of squillo and resonance in his tone.  He’s a great example of projection!  Also, when he contrasts these powerhouse sections with his tender lines, they are such impactful performances.  Below are some video clips and recordings of his that I enjoy!  Note that most of the videos below he was fifty seven years old, and yet he still sounded like that!  He is one of my favorites and I hope he more people learn to love him too! 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NEO9JOypHbk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vewupKFIEAE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WTRCWFj9rac

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mq1peuFbQZc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C7bQ6aZy2q0

-“Thomas Stewart, A Singer and Man As Grand as Opera”, Washington Post, Tim Page, September 26, 2006.  

-“Thomas Stewart, 78, Baritone on Opera Stage, Dies” New York Times, Allan Kozinn, September 26, 2006.