| Biography | James Pease (9 January 1916, Indianapolis, Indiana, USA 26 April 1967, New York City, USA) was an American bass-baritone, notable for his Wagnerian roles but also a very distinguished Balstrode in Benjamin Brittens Peter Grimes, a role he recorded under the composers direction in 1958.
A law graduate of Indiana University in 1939, he won a scholarship at the Academy of Vocal Arts in Philadelphia and studied there rather than begin practice as a lawyer. He made his debut with the Philadelphia Opera Company as Mephistopheles in Faust, and sang many other roles with the company in Philadelphia and Boston. He also pursued concert, oratorio and radio work on the East Coast of the United States. Pease was praised by Serge Koussevitzky as having "An exceptionally beautiful, powerful, expansive voice".
In 1943 Pease was selected as winner of the Metropolitan Opera Auditions of the Air, but was immediately called for service as an aviation cadet. He served three years as a pilot in the A.A.F. Training Command, flying some 15,000 miles. He also directed and performed in musical shows at his home base in Texas.
On his discharge in 1945, Pease appeared at the Montreal Festivals and in a series of operas at the New York City Center Theatre, making his debut there as Sparafucile on 9 May 1946 (continuing to sing at that venue until 1953). That year he also sang in Carmen at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles, conducted by Leopold Stokowski. He was also a soloist with the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington, D.C. and at the Berkshire Festival.
Pease sang a wide variety of roles including Leporello and the title role in Don Giovanni, Don Alfonso (Così fan tutte), the Music Master (Strauss: Ariadne auf Naxos), Colline (La bohème), Escamillo (Carmen) and various Gilbert and Sullivan roles including the Pirate King and the Mikado of Japan.
Pease sang in London's Royal Opera House in various productions conducted by Rafael Kubelík, including as Hans Sachs in Wagner's Die Meistersinger with Geraint Evans and Joan Sutherland in 1957, as King Mark in Tristan und Isolde with Birgit Nilsson in 1958, and in the same year as Balstrode in Peter Grimes, later recording the role under the composers direction for Decca.
He returned to the New York City Opera in 1959-60, and again in 1967. |