Macurdy, John
Macurdy, John
Macurdy, John, American bass; b. Detroit, March 18, 1929. He studied engineering at Wayne State Univ. in Detroit, and then voice with Avery Crew and Boris Goldovsky. In 1952 he made his operatic debut in New Orleans in Samson et Baiila. After singing in Santa Fe, Houston, and Baltimore, he became a member of the N.Y.C. Opera in 1959. On Dec. 8, 1962, he made his Metropolitan Opera debut in N.Y. as Tom in Un ballo in maschera, and subsequently appeared there regularly. He also sang with other U.S. opera companies, including those of San Francisco and Chicago. In 1973 he appeared as Debussy’s Arkel at the Paris Opéra, in 1974 as Beethoven’s Pizzaro at Milan’s La Scala, and in 1977 as Mozart’s Commendatore at the Salzburg Festival. As a concert artist, he was engaged by many orchs. Among his other roles were Sarastro, Hagen, King Marke, Rocco, Pogner, Sparafucile, and Gounod’s Méphistophélès.
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire