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The American bass-baritone, Richard Cross, was trained mainly at the Cornell College of Mount Vernon, Iowa.
Richard Cross made his debut at the Festival of Spoleto in 1958 in the premiere of the opera The Scarf by Lee Hoiby. In August 1958 he also appeared during the world exhibition of Brussels in the premiere of the opera Maria Golovin by Gian Carlo Menotti. He sang then in 1959 in this opera also at the New York City Centre Opera. After a tour of North America with the NBC Opera company, he gave guest appearances in Baltimore, Houston (Texas) and at the Opera of San Francisco; here he sang as partner of Joan Sutherland in several performances.
From 1966 to 1979 Richard Cross was engaged at the Opera House of Frankfurt a.M. Afterwards he worked again constantly in North America. In 1970-1971 he appeared as a guest at the Opera of Mexico City, in 1971 he sang at the Spoleto Festival in Boris Godunov, in 1974 in Lulu by Alban Berg. He made guest appearances also at the Deutschen Opernhaus Berlin, in Dortmund, Stuttgart, Hamburg, Triest, Budapest and Vancouver. At the Festival of Glyndebourne he sang the title role in Falstaff by Verdi in 1976-1977, and in 1977 as Morosus in Schweigsamen Frau by R. Strauss. In 1979 he appeared at the City Opera New York in the premiere of Dominick Argenta’s opera Miss Havishams Fire. At this house he appeared again in the following ten years, in 1990 as Moses in Moses und Aron by Arnold Schoenberg. In 1982 he made guest appearance at the Miami’s Opera in the premiere of the opera Minute Till Midnight by Robert Ward, in 1984 at the Opera of Pittsburgh as Barbarossa in Verdi’s La battaglia di Legnano, in 1987 in the Art Park Lewiston (New York) as Wotan in Walküre.
Recordings on Decca: complete operas (Maria Golovin by Menotti, Oroveso in Norma as partner of Joan Sutherland). |
