The bass John Macurdy who had performed in the Metropolitan Opera for 4 decades passed away at 91 and the news was confirmed by his spouse on Wednesday.
John’s death was the natural cause and he breathed his last breath on May 7th at Stamford, Connecticut. He was part of world premiers like “Carlisle Floyd’s “Wuthering Heights” at the Santa Fe Opera in 1958, Hugo Weisgall’s “Six Characters in Search of an Author” at the New York City Opera in 1959, Abraham Ellstein’s “The Golem” at the City Opera in 1962, Samuel Barber’s “Antony and Cleopatra” on the opening night of the Met’s new house in 1966 and Marvin David Levy’s “Mourning Becomes Electra” at the Met in 1967.”
Further, he also took celebrity turns like “comprimario” in opera supporting characters which are renowned performances and ranking him 6th amongst basses in the record. He has sung almost 62 roles with the organization.
Speaking to Opera News in 2005 John said that: “Everyone who came here had done other roles, and because the Met had a need for certain parts, those roles were added to your contract, even though you might be singing so-called leading roles at the time.”
John hails from Detroit and was born on 18th March 1929. He went on to pursue voice and then became a sergeant in the U.S Air Force where was positioned as a radar instructor.
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