Samuel Ramey | |
|---|---|
 Ramey performing inRinaldo in 1984 | |
| Born | (1942-03-28)March 28, 1942 (age 82) |
| Occupation | Opera singer |
| Years active | 1973–present |
| Children | 1 |
Samuel Ramey (born March 28, 1942) is an Americanoperatic bass.[1][2] At the height of his career, he was greatly admired for his range and versatility, having possessed a sufficiently accomplishedbel canto technique which enabled him to sing the music ofHandel,Mozart andRossini but with enough vocal power to handle the more overtly dramatic roles inVerdi,Puccini, andMeyerbeer operas.
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Ramey graduated fromColby High School inColby, Kansas in 1960. He studied music in high school and in college atKansas State University, as well as atWichita State withArthur Newman. At Kansas State, he was a member ofKappa Sigma fraternity.
Ramey was in the chorus ofDon Giovanni in 1963, withNorman Treigle in the title role, while studying with the Central City Opera inCentral City, Colorado. After being an apprentice with theSanta Fe Opera inSanta Fe, New Mexico, he worked for an academic publisher inNew York City before he had his first breakthrough while at theNew York City Opera debuting on March 11, 1973, as Zuniga in the 1875 Bizet operaCarmen. He took over that role as well as theFaustian devils inGounod'sFaust and Boito'sMefistofele, which was vacated by the early death of Treigle.
As his repertoire expanded he worked extensively in European theaters notably inBerlin,Hamburg,London,Paris,Milan, andVienna in addition to summer festivals inAix-en-Provence,Glyndebourne,Pesaro, andSalzburg.
In January 1984, Ramey made his debut at theMetropolitan Opera inHandel'sRinaldo. He became a fixture at theTeatro alla Scala,Royal Opera House atCovent Garden,Vienna State Opera, theParis Opera, theLyric Opera of Chicago, theNew York City Opera, theSan Francisco Opera and theTeatro Colón inBuenos Aires (Attila,The Rake's Progress,Mefistofele) since then. In July 1985 he was cast as Bertram in the historic revival in Paris ofGiacomo Meyerbeer'sRobert le diable.
Ramey has sung inMozart'sDon Giovanni andThe Marriage of Figaro and, in the bel canto repertoire, inRossini'sSemiramide,The Barber of Seville,Il Turco in Italia,L'italiana in Algeri, andLa Gazza Ladra; inDonizetti'sAnna Bolena andLucia di Lammermoor andBellini'sI puritani. In the dramatic repertoire, Ramey has been acclaimed for his "Three Devils":Boito'sMefistofele, Gounod'sFaust andBerlioz's dramatic legendDamnation of Faust.[3] Other dramatic roles of his have includedVerdi'sNabucco,Don Carlo,I masnadieri,I Lombardi andJérusalem, as well asOffenbach'sTales of Hoffmann (he portrayed all four villains).
In 1990, he sang the role of Joe inJerome Kern'sShow Boat in a concert performance atAvery Fisher Hall withJerry Hadley andFrederica von Stade.[4] A number of previously obscure operas with strong bass/bass-baritone roles have been revived solely for Ramey, such as Verdi'sAttila, Rossini'sMaometto II andMassenet'sDon Quichotte. He provided the voice for The Beast, the main antagonist of the 2014 animated miniseriesOver the Garden Wall.[5] In 1996, he gave a concert at New York'sAvery Fisher Hall titled "A Date with the Devil" in which he sang 14 arias representing the core of this repertory. He continued to tour with the program throughout the world.[6] In 2000, he presented the concert atMunich'sGasteig Concert Hall. The performance was recorded live and was released oncompact disc in summer 2002.[7]
He formerly served as a member of the faculty atRoosevelt University's Chicago College of Performing Arts and is currently a distinguished professor of Opera atWichita State University's School of Music.[8] He was named an inaugural member of the WSU College of Fine Arts Hall of Fame in 2015.[9] He is a national patron ofDelta Omicron, an international professional music fraternity.[citation needed] He reprised the title role of "Duke Bluebeard" inOpera Omaha's production ofBéla Bartók'sBluebeard's Castle in April 2013 inOmaha, Nebraska.[10]
Ramey has made an exceptionally high number of recordings documenting many of his main operatic roles as well as collections of miscellaneous arias, other classical pieces, and crossover discs of popular American music. He has appeared on television and video productions of the Met's productions ofCarmen andBluebeard's Castle,San Francisco's production ofMefistofele,Glyndebourne's production ofThe Rake's Progress, andSalzburg's production ofDon Giovanni.[11]
He married his third wife, soprano Lindsey Larsen, on June 29, 2002.[12][13] They have one son.[14]
