Estes, Simon (Lament)

Estes, Simon (Lament), noted black American bass-baritone; b. Centerville, Iowa, Feb. 2, 1938. He sang in a local Baptist church choir as a child, then studied voice with Charles Kellis at the Univ. of Iowa and on scholarship at N.Y.’s Juilliard School of Music. He made his operatic debut as Ramfis at the Berlin Deutsche Oper (1965); after winning a silver medal at the Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow (1966), he appeared with the San Francisco Opera and the Chicago Lyric Opera, but was mainly active as a concert artist. On June 10, 1976, he made his first appearance with the Metropolitan Opera as Oroveso in Norma during the company’s visit to the Wolf Trap Farm Park in Vienna, Va. However, it was not until he sang the Dutchman at the Bayreuth Festival in 1978 that his remarkable vocal gifts began to be widely appreciated. He subsequently appeared as the Dutchman throughout Europe to notable acclaim. In 1980 he made his U.S. recital debut at N.Y.’s Carnegie Hall, and in 1981 returned to the Metropolitan Opera roster, singing Wotan opposite Birgit Nilsson’s Brunnhilde in a concert performance of Act III of Die Walkiire in N.Y. He finally made his formal stage debut with the company there as the Landgrave on Jan. 4, 1982. In 1985 he returned to sing Porgy in Porgy and Bess. He sang Wotan in the Ring cycle at the Metropolitan Opera from 1986 to 1988. He made his debut at the London Promenade Concerts in 1989. In 1990 he appeared in the title role of the musical King in London. In 1992 he appeared as Macbeth in Miami and as Wotan in Bonn. He portrayed Zaccaria at the Orange Festival in 1994. After singing Porgy in Cape Town in 1996, he appeared as Jochanaan in Toronto in 1998. His comprehensive operatic and concert repertoire ranges from Handel to spirituals.

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire