John Vickers

John Vickers, the Canadian heroic tenor celebrated for his sensitive, virile portrayals of complex operatic protagonists, was born in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan in 1926. He studied at the Royal Conservatory in Toronto and made his debut there (1952) as the Duke in Rigoletto. He made his Covent Garden debut in 1957 as Riccardo in Verdi's Ballo in Maschera and continued to appear in that house until 1969, putting his personal stamp on the roles of Aeneas in Les Troyens, Radames, Don Carlos, Handel's Samson, Canio, Florestan and Peter Grimes.

He made his Bayreuth debut in 1958 as Siegmund in Die Walkure and sang Parsifal there in 1964. His debut role at the Metropolitan Opera was Canio in i Pagliacci (1960). Vickers continued to sing at the Met for 20 subsequent seasons in more than 225 performances of 16 roles, including Don Jose, Herman in Tchaikovsky's Queen of Spades, the Samsons of both Handel and Saint-Saens, Don Alvaro and Tristan. Vickers also had an international career that took him to Milan's La Scala as well as the major opera houses of Chicago, San Francisco and Salzburg.

Vickers' reputation rests on his exceptional grasp of characters in the grip of conflicting emotions. His deeply committed portrayals of such tormented figures as Peter Grimes, Otello and Samson were the keystones of his artistic legacy. His recordings of these roles are justly prized, but can only give a hint of the powerful impact of his highly charged performances.