Samuel Ramey

Samuel Ramey born March 28 1942 is an American operatic bass At the height of his career he was greatly admired for his range and versatility having possessed a sufficiently accomplished bel canto technique which enabled him to sing the music of Handel Mozart and Rossini but with enough vocal power to handle the more overtly dramatic roles in Verdi Puccini and Meyerbeer operas Ramey graduated from Colby High School in Colby Kansas in 1960 He studied music in high school and in college at Kansas State University as well as at Wichita State with Arthur Newman At Kansas State he was a member of Kappa Sigma fraternity Ramey was in the chorus of Don Giovanni in 1963 with Norman Treigle in the title role while studying with the Central City Opera in Central City Colorado After being an apprentice with the Santa Fe Opera in Santa Fe New Mexico he worked for an academic publisher in New York City before he had his first breakthrough while at the New York City Opera debuting on March 11 1973 as Zuniga in the 1875 Bizet opera Carmen He took over that role as well as the Faustian devils in Gounods Faust and Boitos Mefistofele which was vacated by the early death of Treigle As his repertoire expanded he worked extensively in European theaters notably in Berlin Hamburg London Paris Milan and Vienna in addition to summer festivals in AixenProvence Glyndebourne Pesaro and Salzburg In January 1984 Ramey made his debut at the Metropolitan Opera in Handels Rinaldo He became a fixture at the Teatro alla Scala Royal Opera House at Covent Garden Vienna State Opera the Paris Opera the Lyric Opera of Chicago the New York City Opera the San Francisco Opera and the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires Attila The Rakes Progress Mefistofele since then In July 1985 he was cast as Bertram in the historic revival in Paris of Giacomo Meyerbeers Robert le diable Ramey has sung in Mozarts Don Giovanni and The Marriage of Figaro and in the bel canto repertoire in Rossinis Semiramide The Barber of Seville Il Turco in Italia Litaliana in Algeri and La Gazza Ladra in Donizettis Anna Bolena and Lucia di Lammermoor and Bellinis I puritani In the dramatic repertoire Ramey has been acclaimed for his Three Devils Boitos Mefistofele Gounods Faust and Berliozs dramatic legend Damnation of Faust Other dramatic roles of his have included Verdis Nabucco Don Carlo I masnadieri I Lombardi and Jérusalem as well as Offenbachs Tales of Hoffmann he portrayed all four villains Source Article Samuel Ramey from Wikipedia in English licensed under CCBYSA