Chester Watson

Chester Watson (September 6, 1911 – January 8, 1979) He notably starred opposite Maria Callas as Goffredo in the American Opera Society's lauded 1959 production of Vincenzo Bellini's Il pirata, which was later issued as a live recording by EMI Classics. After college he enlisted in the United States Army where he served until the end of World War II. Polyphemus in George Frideric Handel's Acis and Galatea; and the part of Siméon in Claude Debussy's L'enfant prodigue with Bernard Herrmann conducting the CBSSO in 1947. His first major opera role was the First Police Agent in the original Broadway production of Gian Carlo Menotti's The Consul at the Ethel Barrymore Theater in 1950. In 1953 he starred in the one act television opera The Parrot by composer Darrell Peters which was created as part of the Armstrong Circle Theatre anthology series.

This was followed by several appearances on television with the NBC Opera Theatre in the 1950s and 1960s, including the role of Father Julien in the world premiere of Norman Dello Joio's The Trial at Rouen in 1956. Other operas he performed on television with that company included Lukas Foss's Griffelkin (the Lion, 1955 ), Giacomo Puccini's La bohème (as Benoit, 1956 ), Mozart's The Magic Flute (1956), Prokofiev's War and Peace (as Count Rostov, 1957 ), Verdi's La traviata (as Dottore Grenvil, 1957 ), Beethoven's Fidelio (as Rocco, 1961), Debussy's Pelléas et Mélisande (1962), and Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor (as Raimondo, 1964 ). In 1958 he created the role of Palivec in Robert Kurka's The Good Soldier Schweik with the New York City Opera at Lincoln Center. That same year he appeared in two operas with the Lyric Opera of Chicago; the roles of Tchelkalov in Boris Godunov and Betto di Signa in Gianni Schicchi.

In 1959 Watson returned to Broadway to portray Luke Granger in the short-lived musical Happy Town. That same year he performed and recorded the role of Goffredo in the American Opera Society's lauded production of Vincenzo Bellini's Il pirata starring Maria Callas at Carnegie Hall. He performed with the AOS again the following year in performance of Hector Berlioz's Les Troyens with conductor Thomas Beecham at DAR Constitution Hall. In 1960 he was committed to the Lyric Opera of Chicago, portraying the roles of Antonio in Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro, Bonze in Puccini's Madama Butterfly, Cirillo in Umberto Giordano's Fedora, and Pietro in Verdi's Simon Boccanegra. In 1961 he portrayed the role of Sarastro in Mozart's The Magic Flute with the Opera Society of Washington (OSW). In 1962 he returned to the OSW to perform and record the role of Tiresias in Igor Stravinsky's Oedipus rex with the composer conducting. His last major opera performance was as Leonard Swett in the world premiere of Thomas Pasatieri's The Trial of Mary Lincoln in 1972 for National Educational Television. Bach's Mass in B minor (1953); Handel's Messiah (1953); and Handel's Israel in Egypt (1958). In 1961 he sang the role of Friar Lawrence in Berlioz's Roméo et Juliette with the New York Philharmonic with Nan Merriman as Juliette; a performance which was broadcast nationally. Some of the other concert works in his repertoire included Beethoven's Mass in C major, Haydn's The Creation, and Mozart's Requiem.

In addition to his work as a performer, Watson worked as a voice teacher.