Harry Theyard (né Harry L. Theard, Jr, on 28 September 1929, in

New Orleans New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...

) is an American operatic

tenor A tenor is a type of male singing voice whose vocal range lies between the countertenor and baritone voice types. It is the highest male chest voice type. Composers typically write music for this voice in the range from the second B below m ...

. Theyard is a 1957 graduate of Loyola University of the South, where he studied under Dorothy Hulse, who was also the teacher of Audrey Schuh and Charles Anthony. He began his career with the New Orleans Opera Association in secondary parts, including appearances in ''Salome'' (1949), ''Le nozze di Figaro'' (1956), ''Il trovatore'' (opposite

Herva Nelli Herva Nelli (January 9, 1909May 31, 1994) was an Italian and American operatic soprano. Biography Named after the French socialist Gustave Hervé, she was born in Florence, where she attended a convent school. At the age of ten, however, she and ...

, 1958) and ''The Beggar's Opera'' (directed by

Lillian Gish Lillian Diana Gish (October 14, 1893 – February 27, 1993) was an American actress best known for her work in movies of the silent era. Her film-acting career spanned 75 years, from 1912, in silent film shorts, to 1987. Gish was dubbed the "F ...

, 1958). Later, in New York, he studied under Armen Boyajian, also the pedagogue of Marisa Galvany, Paul Plishka, and

Samuel Ramey Samuel Ramey (born March 28, 1942) is an American operatic bass. At the height of his career, he was greatly admired for his range and versatility, having possessed a sufficiently accomplished bel canto technique which enabled him to sing the mu ...

New York City Opera

The ''spinto'' tenor debuted with the

New York City Opera The New York City Opera (NYCO) is an American opera company located in Manhattan in New York City. The company has been active from 1943 through its 2013 bankruptcy, and again since 2016 when it was revived. The opera company, dubbed "the peopl ...

in 1959, in ''The Devil and Daniel Webster'', directed by

John Houseman John Houseman (born Jacques Haussmann; September 22, 1902 – October 31, 1988) was a Romanians, Romanian-born British Americans, British-American theatre and film producer, actor, director, and teacher. He became known for his highly publ ...

. He went on to sing in the world premieres of Ward's ''

The Crucible ''The Crucible'' is a 1953 play by the American playwright Arthur Miller. It is a dramatized and partially fictionalized story of the Salem witch trials that took place in the Province of Massachusetts Bay from 1692 to 1693. Miller wrote ...

'' (starring

Chester Ludgin Chester Ludgin (May 20, 1925 – August 9, 2003) was an American operatic baritone. Biography Chester Ludgin was a native of Brooklyn, New York. He made his professional debut in 1956 with The Experimental Opera Theatre of America (affiliated wi ...

), Floyd's ''The Passion of Jonathan Wade'' (with Phyllis Curtin), and Menotti's '' The Most Important Man'' (conducted by

Christopher Keene Christopher Keene (December 21, 1946 – October 8, 1995) was an American conductor. Early life and education Keene was born in 1946 in Berkeley, California, the son of Yvonne (née Cyr) and Jim Keene. His mother was of Acadian, German, and Scott ...

). By 1970, Theyard was one of the City Opera's leading tenors, appearing in ''Madama Butterfly'', ''Mefistofele'' (opposite

Norman Treigle Norman Treigle (né Adanelle Wilfred Treigle (March 6, 1927February 16, 1975) was an American operatic bass-baritone, who was acclaimed for his great abilities as a singing-actor, and specialized in roles that evoked villainy and terror. Biograp ...

), ''Louise'', ''The Makropoulos Case'', ''Carmen'', ''Susannah'', ''Tosca'' (with Galvany), ''Cavalleria rusticana'', ''Les contes d'Hoffmann'', ''Turandot'' and ''La fanciulla del West''.

Metropolitan Opera

In 1966, he first appeared with the

Metropolitan Opera National Company The Metropolitan Opera National Company (MONC) was a short lived American opera company that operated from 1965 to 1967 as a second touring company of the Metropolitan Opera that featured American and Canadian artists in their early stages of career ...

, in ''La traviata'' and ''La bohème''. In 1970 he portrayed Curly in the world premiere of

Carlisle Floyd Carlisle Sessions Floyd (June 11, 1926September 30, 2021) was an American composer primarily known for his operas. These stage works, for which he wrote not only the music but also the librettos, typically engage with themes from the American So ...

's ''

Of Mice and Men ''Of Mice and Men'' is a 1937 novella written by American author John Steinbeck. It describes the experiences of George Milton and Lennie Small, two displaced migrant worker, migrant ranch workers, as they move from place to place in California ...

'' at the

Seattle Opera Seattle Opera is an American opera company based in Seattle, Washington. The company's season runs from August through late May, comprising five or six operas of eight to ten performances each, often featuring double casts in major roles to all ...

. In 1973, Theyard sang in ''Manon Lescaut'' at the

Spoleto Festival The ''Festival dei Due Mondi'' (Festival of the Two Worlds) is an annual summer music and opera festival held each June to early July in Spoleto, Italy, since its founding by composer Gian Carlo Menotti in 1958. It features a vast array of conc ...

, with

Nancy Shade Nancy Shade (born May 31, 1946, in Rockford, Illinois) is an American spinto soprano, best known as a singing-actress. She made her formal debut as Leonora in '' Il trovatore'', in Louisville, in 1967. In 1971, she made her first of many appear ...

directed by

Luchino Visconti Luchino Visconti di Modrone, Count of Lonate Pozzolo (; 2 November 1906 – 17 March 1976) was an Italian filmmaker, theatre and opera director, and screenwriter. He was one of the fathers of Italian neorealism, cinematic neorealism, but later ...

and conducted by

Thomas Schippers Thomas Schippers (9 March 1930 – 16 December 1977) was an American conductor. He was highly regarded for his work in opera. Biography Of Dutch ancestry and son of the owner of a large appliance store, Schippers was born in Portage, Michig ...

. In 1974, he debuted with the

Metropolitan Opera The Metropolitan Opera is an American opera company based in New York City, currently resident at the Metropolitan Opera House (Lincoln Center), Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center, situated on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. Referred ...

for an impressive string of operas: ''Les contes d'Hoffmann'' (with Dame

Joan Sutherland Dame Joan Alston Sutherland, (7 November 1926 – 10 October 2010) was an Australian dramatic coloratura soprano known for her contribution to the renaissance of the bel canto repertoire from the late 1950s to the 1980s. She possessed a voice ...

), ''Manon Lescaut'', ''Madama Butterfly'', ''Cavalleria rusticana'', Grigori in ''Boris Godunov'', ''La forza del destino'' (directed by

John Dexter John Dexter (2 August 1925 – 23 March 1990) was an English theatre, opera and film director. Theatre Born in Derby, Derbyshire, England, Dexter left school at the age of fourteen to serve in the British Army during the Second World War. F ...

), ''L'assedio di Corinto'' (

Beverly Sills Beverly Sills (born Belle Miriam Silverman; May 25, 1929July 2, 2007) was an American operatic soprano whose career peak was between the 1950s and 1970s. Although she sang a repertoire from Handel and Mozart to Puccini, Massenet and Verd ...

's house debut) and ''Il tabarro'' (with

Renata Scotto Renata Scotto (24 February 1934 – 16 August 2023) was an Italian soprano, opera director, and voice teacher. Recognised for her sense of style, her musicality, and as a remarkable singer-actress, Scotto is considered to have been one of the pr ...

). From 1976, he returned to his native city for starring roles in ''Manon Lescaut'', ''Lucia di Lammermoor'', ''Andrea Chénier'', ''La bohème'' and ''Carmen'' (opposite

Shirley Verrett Shirley Verrett (May 31, 1931 – November 5, 2010) was an American operatic mezzo-soprano who successfully transitioned into soprano roles making her a Soprano sfogato. Verrett enjoyed great fame from the late 1960s through the 1990s; she was ...

Broadway

Mr Theyard also appeared on Broadway, in the original productions of ''

Man of La Mancha ''Man of La Mancha'' is a 1965 musical with a book by Dale Wasserman, music by Mitch Leigh, and lyrics by Joe Darion. It is adapted from Wasserman's non-musical 1959 teleplay '' I, Don Quixote'', which was in turn inspired by Miguel de Cervan ...

'' (as Anselmo the muleteer, 1965) and ''

A Time for Singing ''A Time for Singing'' is a musical with music by John Morris, lyrics by Gerald Freedman and John Morris, and a book by Freedman and Morris. The work was based on Richard Llewellyn's novel of a Welsh mining village, ''How Green Was My Valley''. ...

'' (as Owen Morgan, 1966). The latter was a musical version of ''

How Green Was My Valley ''How Green Was My Valley'' is a 1939 novel by Richard Llewellyn, narrated by Huw Morgan, the main character, about his Welsh family and the mining community in which they live. The author had claimed that he based the book on his own experi ...

'', and was not a success; ''Man of La Mancha'', on the other hand, was an enormous hit and has become a musical-comedy classic. In it, Mr Theyard introduced the song "Little Bird, Little Bird." In 1975, he appeared on television in the

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...

Christmas special Christmas themes have long been an inspiration to artists and writers. A prominent aspect of Christian media, the topic first appeared Christmas in literature, in literature and Christmas music, in music. Filmmakers have picked up on this wealth o ...

, "A Handful of Souls."

Operatic discography

* Rossini: ''L'assedio di Corinto'' (Sills, Verrett, Díaz; Schippers, 1974)

EMI EMI Group Limited (formerly EMI Group plc until 2007; originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At t ...

* Refice: ''Cecilia'': abridged (Scotto; Campori, 1976) iveVAI

Musical-theatre discography

* Leigh, Darion: ''Man of La Mancha'' (Kiley, Diener, original cast, 1966) MCA

References

* ''The New York City Opera: An American Adventure'', by Martin L. Sokol (Annals by George Louis Mayer), Macmillan Publishing Co, Inc, 1981. * "From Loyola to the Metropolitan and City Operas," programme note by Brian Morgan, for "Loyola to the Met," October 1, 1999.

External links

* (with Armen Boyajian at the piano, 1977). {{DEFAULTSORT:Theyard, Harry American operatic tenors 20th-century American male opera singers Living people 1929 births Musicians from New Orleans Loyola University New Orleans alumni Singers from Louisiana Singers from New Orleans