John Macurdy

John Macurdy (né John Edward McCurdy; – ) was an American operatic bass, who sang at the Metropolitan Opera 1,001 times from 1962 to 2000 (and also sang numerous performances in other opera houses). He was of Scottish descent by way of Nova Scotia. As a three-year-old a neighbor paid him 10 cents to sing "O Tannenbaum". Marie Curtis, the church choir director, encouraged him to take singing lessons.

Macurdy attended Keating Elementary and Hutchinson Intermediary schools, and graduated from Cass Technical High School, all in Detroit. He attended the Wayne State University College of Engineering from 1947 to 1949, then entered an apprenticeship program for wood pattern-die model makers provided by the styling section of General Motors.

He put his apprenticeship on hold to serve in the U.S. Air Force for four years during the Korean War at Keesler Air Force Base in Biloxi, Mississippi, rising to the rank of Sergeant as a radar-electronics instructor. During this time, he also sang with the New Orleans Opera House Association and the Mobile Opera Guild.

New York City Opera

In 1959, Macurdy made his New York City Opera debut, as Dr Wilson in Street Scene. Among his other roles there, until 1962, were Jabez Stone in The Devil and Daniel Webster, the Basso Cantante in Six Characters in Search of an Author (world premiere, with Beverly Sills), William Jennings Bryan in The Ballad of Baby Doe, Mr Earnshaw in Wuthering Heights (opposite Phyllis Curtin and Patricia Neway), Créon in Œdipus rex (conducted by Leopold Stokowski), Colline in La bohème, Timur in Turandot, President Prexy in The Cradle Will Rock, a Priest in Il prigioniero (with Treigle), Sparafucile in Rigoletto, Don Alfonso in Così fan tutte, the King of Egypt (later Ramfis) in Aïda, Reb Bashevi in Abraham Ellstein's The Golem (world premiere), and the Reverend John Hale in The Crucible (with Chester Ludgin). He made a return to that ensemble in 1979, for a single performance of Raimondo Bidebent in Lucia di Lammermoor.

They had two children – Allison, born in , and John, born in . In 1985, she married Australian Nicholas Blaxland Hays.

Death Macurdy died of natural causes on May 7, 2020, in Stamford.

Commercial discography

Ward: The Crucible (Ludgin; Buckley, 1962) CRI Beethoven: Ninth Symphony (Ormandy, p. 1966) CBS/Sony Mozart: Die Zauberflöte (Raskin, Peters, Shirley, Uppman; Krips, 1967) [live] Metropolitan Opera Mozart: Don Giovanni (Milnes; Böhm, 1977) [live] Deutsche Grammophon Mozart: Don Giovanni (Raimondi; Maazel, 1978) CBS/Sony Berlioz: Béatrice et Bénédict (Cotrubaș, Minton, Domingo, Fischer-Dieskau; Barenboim, 1981) Deutsche Grammophon Verdi: Otello (Ricciarelli, Domingo, Díaz; Maazel, 1985) EMI

Commercial videography

Mozart: Don Giovanni (Raimondi; Maazel, Losey, 1978) Gaumont Wagner: Tannhäuser (Cassilly; Levine, Schenk/Berkowitz, 1982) [live] Pioneer Classics Wagner: Lohengrin (Hofmann; Levine, Everding, 1986) [live] Pioneer Classics