Richard Cassilly
Encyclopedia
Richard Cassilly was an American opera
tic tenor
who had a major international opera career between 1954 and 1990. Cassilly "was a mainstay in the heldentenor repertory in opera houses around the world for 30 years", and particularly excelled in Wagnerian
roles like Tristan, Siegmund and Tannhäuser, and in dramatic parts that required both stamina and vocal weight, such as Giuseppe Verdi
's "Otello
" and Camille Saint-Saëns
's "Samson
". He was also an admired Don José in Carmen
and sang almost all of the leading Puccini
tenor roles. Standing at 6 foot 3 and possessing a 250-pound frame The New York Times
described him as "a burly tenor with a bright ping on the top notes who had a supple lyric quality [to his voice]", and "was known to bring a musical intelligence and uncommonly clear diction to his work."
Cassilly spent the early years of his opera career singing primarily with the New York City Opera
between 1955–1966, often portraying roles in obscure and contemporary operas. During these years he also traveled frequently throughout North America, appearing with most of the major opera companies in the United States and Canada. In 1965 he launched a major international opera career when he portrayed the title role in a critically acclaimed production of Heinrich Sutermeister
's Raskolnikoff at the Grand Théâtre de Genève
. This performance earned him a contract with the Hamburg State Opera
as their leading in-house dramatic tenor, a position he held from 1965-1978. Engagements with other major companies soon followed, and by 1973 Cassilly had sung leading roles with almost every major opera house in Europe, including La Scala
, the Opéra National de Paris, the Vienna State Opera
, and the Bavarian State Opera
. Cassilly also forged a strong collaborative partnership with the Royal Opera
in London, appearing in that house almost every year from 1968-1982. In 1978 he joined the roster of principal tenors at the Metropolitan Opera
in New York City, where he spent the majority of his time until his retirement in 1990.
, Cassilly spent his childhood on a farm near Aberdeen, Maryland
before moving to Baltimore, Maryland with his family in his early teens. He first became involved in music through singing in his high school's glee club. In 1946, at the age of eighteen, he entered the Peabody Conservatory at Johns Hopkins University
where he studied singing with Hans Heinz. As a student he sang in college productions of The Flying Dutchman
(as the Steersman) and Madama Butterfly
(as Pinkerton). During this time he also had the opportunity to study under Rosa Ponselle
who had retired from her career and was residing in Baltimore.
After graduating with a degree in vocal performance in 1952, Cassilly moved to New York City with his first wife and their first child to pursue a performance career. Shortly thereafter he became a member of the John Harms Chorus singing with them at such venues as Town Hall
between 1952-1954. He also worked as a paid singer for a couple of different churches during this time. Eventually his break came in 1954 when he was hired by William Steinberg
as the tenor soloist in Beethoven's Symphony No. 9
with the Pittsburgh Symphony. This was followed by his operatic debut on Broadway
as A Young Man and understudy for Michele in Gian Carlo Menotti
's The Saint of Bleecker Street
in December 1954. The production was a particular hit with the New York public and ran through April 1955. After it closed, the NBC Opera Theatre
decided to use the cast for a televised version of the show.
, director of the New York City Opera
(NYCO), who invited him to audition for the company in the Spring of 1955. Impressed with the audition, Rosenstock offered him a contract with the company and Cassilly made his NYCO debut in the title role of Tchaikovsky
's Cherevichki
(performed under the title The Golden Slipper) opposite Beverly Sills
as Oxana on October 13, 1955.
Cassilly sang regularly at the NYCO in productions through 1966, often in contemporary operas or in rarely heard works. He notably sang in several American premieres with the company including Ferdinand in Frank Martin
's The Tempest in 1957 and the Jailer in Luigi Dallapiccola
's Il prigioniero
, with Norman Treigle
and Leopold Stokowski
, in 1960. His other roles with the NYCO included Don José in Carmen
, Edgar Linton in Carlisle Floyd
's Wuthering Heights
, Paco in La vida breve
, Peter Quint in The Turn of the Screw
, Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly, Sam Polk in Susannah
, the Soldier in Bucci
's Tale for a Deaf Ear
, the Tenor in Hugo Weisgall
's The Tenor, and the tile roles in Stravinsky's Oedipus rex
among others. His last performance as a regular member of the company was in March 1966 as Sergei in Dmitri Shostakovich
's Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District
(performed under the title Katerina Ismailova).
During his time with NYCO Cassilly was also busy with many other musical ensembles and organizations in New York City. He sang often with the American Opera Society
(AOS) in concert performances of operas at Carnegie Hall
and Town Hall, sharing the stage with such opera greats as Walter Berry, Marilyn Horne
, Christa Ludwig
, Regina Resnik
, Giulietta Simionato
, Eleanor Steber
, and Joan Sutherland
among others. His roles with the AOS included Percy in Anna Bolena
(1957), Tebaldo in I Capuleti e i Montecchi
(1958), Énée in Les Troyens
(1960), Orombello in Beatrice di Tenda
(1961), and Pylade in Iphigénie en Tauride
(1965). He also sang the role of Hermann in a concert performance of The Queen of Spades
opposite Phyllis Curtin
in the title role and sang the role of Martin in Aaron Copland
's The Tender Land
, both with the New York Philharmonic
in 1965.
Although Cassilly was primarily working in New York during these years, he did travel frequently for performances with other companies and musical ensembles both in United States and internationally. In 1955 he made his first appearance in Philadelphia at the Mann Center for the Performing Arts
with the Robin Hood Dell Orchestra as Don José in a concert performance Carmen. That same year he sang his first Mario Cavaradossi in Tosca
opposite Licia Albanese
in the title role in his debut with the Philadelphia Grand Opera Company
. He returned to that company several more times singing the roles of Don José (1958) and Pinkerton (1958, 1960, 1961). He also sang a few times with the Philadelphia Lyric Opera Company
during these years in the roles of Oedipus rex (1959), Sam Polk (1960), and the title role in Wagner's Lohengrin
(1961).
Cassilly made his first appearance outside of the United States in 1957 with the Canadian Opera Company
as Cavaradossi in Tosca. He reprised the role later that year at Fort Worth Opera
with Phyllis Curtin in the title role and Walter Cassel
as Scarpia. In February 1958 he sang Pollione in Bellini
's Norma
with New Orleans Opera
. This was followed by his European debut in July 1958 portraying the role of Sam Polk in Carlisle Floyd
's Susannah
at the Brussels World's Fair in a production transported from the NYCO. In the summer of 1959 he sang the title role in Peter Grimes
and portrayed the role of Don José opposite Nell Rankin
's Carmen with Cincinnati Opera
.
The following November he made his first appearance with the Lyric Opera of Chicago
as Laca Klemeň in Leoš Janáček
's Jenůfa
opposite Sylvia Fisher
in the title role.
In 1960 Cassilly sang Don José for three house debut performances: the Houston Grand Opera
(in January opposite Claramae Turner
as Carmen), the Vancouver Opera
(in April with Nan Merriman
as Carmen), and the Opera Company of Boston
(in May with Gloria Lane as Carmen). In the summer of that year he returned to Cincinnati Opera to sing his first Radames in Aida
, and in the Fall he went back to the Lyric Opera of Chicago to sing both Don José (opposite Jean Madeira
) and Pinkerton (opposite Leontyne Price
). In 1962 he returned to the Houston Grand Opera to sing two new roles, Canio in I Pagliacci and Walther in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg
. In the Summer of 1963 he sang his first Manrico in Verdi's Il trovatore
with Lucine Amara
as Leonora for his debut with Central City Opera
. This was followed by his first Don Alvaro in Verdi's La forza del destino
in November with New Orleans Opera. In 1964 he debuted with the San Francisco Opera
as Max in Der Freischütz
and returned to Cincinnati Opera to sing his first Baron von Eisenstein in Die Fledermaus
.
's Raskolnikoff at the Grand Théâtre de Genève
. Earning rave reviews, Cassilly was soon approached with offers to join the Hamburg State Opera
(HSO) and the Deutsche Oper Berlin
. He decided to accept a single engagement in Berlin but signed a longterm contract with the HSO, ultimately moving his family to that city. Cassilly was the HSO's leading dramatic tenor between 1966 and 1978 where he sang a total of 55 roles, often singing as many as three or four different roles per week. He was a particular house favorite in the Wagner roles of Siegmund, Walther, Tristan, and Tannhäuser. He made his debut with the company singing Cavaradossi opposite the Tosca of Suzanne Sarroca in October 1966. He notably appeared as Florestan in the company's 1968 film of Beethoven's Fidelio
, opposite Anja Silja
. He also portrayed Aron in a critically acclaimed 1974 production of Schoenberg
's Moses und Aron
with the company which was later recorded under the conductor Pierre Boulez
. The city of Hamburg
honored him by bestowing on him the title of "Kammersänger". During his time there he also would travel periodically to sing with the Badisches Staatstheater Karlsruhe
and the Nationaltheater Mannheim
.
The year 1965 not only marked Cassily's first major European appearance, but also brought a personal triumph for Cassilly in February of that year: singing the title role in Charles Gounod
's Faust
for his first professional opera performance in his home city at the Baltimore Civic Opera. The following October he made his debut with Montreal Opera singing Radames with conductor Zubin Mehta
, Virginia Zeani
is Aida and Lili Chookasian
as Amneris. This was followed by a performance of Britten's War Requiem
with the San Antonio Symphony
. In 1966 Cassily returned to the San Francisco Opera to sing Grigoriy in Boris Godunov
and Aegisth in Elektra
. In April 1967 he made his Seattle Opera
debut singing Manrico to Eileen Farrell
's Leonora and Sherrill Milnes
's Count DiLuna in Verdi's Il Trovatore. That summer he performed at Lincoln Center in Washinginton D.C. with the Hamburg State Opera's transport productions of Mathis der Maler (as the Archbishop) and Jenůfa. This was followed by his first performance of the title role in Verdi's Otello
with HSO the following September. In October 1967 he returned to Vancouver Opera to sing the role of Dick Johnson for the first time in Puccini's La fanciulla del West
with Dorothy Kirsten
as Minnie, Chester Ludgin
as Jack Rance, and Fausta Cleva conducting. The following December he sang Erik to Ingrid Bjoner
's Senta in The Flying Dutchman at the New Orleans Opera.
On February 16, 1968 Cassilly made his debut at the Royal Opera
, Covent Garden
as Laca Klemeň to Marie Collier
's Jenůfa with Astrid Varnay
as the Kostelnicka. He returned there almost every year through 1982, portraying the roles of Aeneas in Les Troyens
(1977), the Drum Major in Wozzeck
(1974), Florestan (1969), Herod in Salome
(1979), Laca Klemeň (1968–1972), the title role in Peter Grimes
(1976), Otello (1968), Siegmund in Wagner's Die Walküre
(1971–1982), the title role in Tannhäuser
(1972–1974), and Troilus in Troilus and Cressida
(1975). Cassilly notably recorded several of these roles with the Royal Opera, including Siegmund and Troilus.
Cassilly made his only appearance at La Scala
in January 1970 as Samson in Saint-Saëns
's Samson et Dalila
. The following April he sang Otello for his first appearance at the Bavarian State Opera
and on June 13 sang Tannhäuser to Claire Watson
's Elisabeth for his Vienna State Opera
debut. In October he made his first appearance at the San Diego Opera
as Calaf in Turandot
followed by his Pittsburgh Opera
debut in December as Tannhäuser.
In 1972 Cassily returned to the San Francisco Opera to sing Radames in Aida
and the mayor in the American premiere of Gottfried von Einem
's The Visit of the Old Lady
. On January 20, 1973, he made his highly anticipated Metropolitan Opera
debut as Radamès opposite Lucine Amara
as Aida, Irene Dalis
as Amneris, Cornell MacNeil
as Amonasro, and Giorgio Tozzi
as Ramfis. The following March he sang Tannhäuser at the Opéra de Bordeaux and on June 3 made his debut at the Opéra National de Paris as Aegisth and later in the month Siegmund. The following summer he sang the role of Jason in Luigi Cherubini
's rarely heard Médée
at the Caramoor International Music Festival
, which was also transported to New York City for a performance as of part the NYCO opera season.
In 1975 Cassily sang the Siegmund opposite Birgit Nilsson
's Bruennhilde at the Orange Festival, a pairing which was repeated the following year at the Palau de la Música Catalana
in Barcelona
. In January 1976 he appeared for the first time at the Teatro Nacional de São Carlos
as Otello. In 1977 he sang Tannhäuser for his debut with the Royal Danish Opera.
as Wolfram, and Grace Bumbry
as Venus. With the exception of the year 1988, he appeared at the Met every year through 1990. Among the many roles he portrayed at the house during this time are Aegisth (1980–1984), Canio (1980–1981), Captain Vere in Billy Budd
(1980–1989), Don José (1980), Drum Major (1980–1989), Herod (1981–1990), Jimmy Mahoney in Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny
(1979–1984), the title role in Œdipus rex (in John Dexter
's production, 1981), Otello (1978–1980), Peter Grimes (1983), Samson (1981), Tannhäuser (1978–1987), and Tristan in Tristan und Isolde
(1981). Both his performances of Tannhäuser and Jimmy Mahoney were recorded for broadcast on PBS's Great Performances
, both of which were subsequently released for sale on DVD. He performed the role of Jimmy Mahoney (The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagony) for the Metropolitan Opera Centennial Gala in 1983. His last performance at the Met was on November 23, 1990 as Herod with Hildegard Behrens
in the title role. His 157th performance at that house, it was also his final appearance on the opera stage.
During his years as a mainstay at the Met, Cassilly continued to appear in operas and concerts throughout the world. In 1978 he sang Siegmund at the Palais Garnier
and he returned to the Houston Grand Opera in November of that year to sing Laca Klemeň. In 1979 he returned to the Grand Théâtre de Genève to sing Tannhäuser to Éva Marton
's Elisabeth. In 1980 he sang Otello with the Frankfurt Opera, the Nationaltheater Mannheim, the Edmundton Opera Company, and the Canadian Opera Company. He also sang Tannhäuser in Genoa
and Geneva. In 1981 he sang Otello in Toronto again and repeated the role with Pittsburgh Opera in 1982. He returned to the Palais Garnier in July 1982 to sing Cannio followed by a portrayal of the mystical shepherd in Karol Szymanowski
's King Roger
with Wolf Trap Opera in August. In October 1982 he portrayed Samson opposite Fiorenza Cossotto
's Dalila for the 40th Anniversary of New Orleans Opera.
In March 1983 Cassilly sang the role of Luka Kuzmič for the American premiere of Leoš Janáček
's From the House of the Dead
in a concert with the New York Philharmonic
. The following June he sang Tannhäuser for his first appearance at the Liceu
and in July repeated that role for his South American debut at the Teatro Municipal in Santiago, Chile
. In September 1983 he returned to San Diego Opera to sing Peter Grimes with Patricia Craig
and in October returned to the San Francsico Opera to sing Otello. In March 1986 he sang Jimmy Mahoney for his only appearance with Scottish Opera
and in 1988 he returned to the Lyric Opera of Chicago to sing Tannhäuser.
, 1958), Les troyens (with Eleanor Steber
and Regina Resnik
, 1960), Susannah (with Phyllis Curtin
and Treigle, 1962), La forza del destino (excerpts, with Eileen Farrell
, 1963), The Tender Land (with Joy Clements
, abridged, conducted by the composer, Aaron Copland
, 1965), Salome (with Dame Gwyneth Jones, conducted by Karl Böhm
, 1970), Moses und Aron (conducted by Pierre Boulez
, 1974), Leonore (with Edda Moser
, 1976) and Troilus and Cressida (with Dame Janet Baker, 1976). In 2010, his performance of Wozzeck from the Met, with José van Dam and Silja, was published on compact discs. Perhaps more important, his 1979 Mahagonny and 1982 Tannhäuser from the Met, as well as the Fidelio film from Hamburg, have been issued on DVD.
In 1986, Cassilly joined the voice faculty at Boston University
where he taught until his death twelve years later in Boston
on January 30, 1998. Just a few days prior to his death he had fallen on the ice and hit his head. The doctors at the time thought it was a mild concussion but the fall in realilty caused a cerebral hemorrhage which was fatal. At the time of his death he was married to Metropolitan Opera soprano Patricia Craig
.
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
tic tenor
Tenor
The tenor is a type of male singing voice and is the highest male voice within the modal register. The typical tenor voice lies between C3, the C one octave below middle C, to the A above middle C in choral music, and up to high C in solo work. The low extreme for tenors is roughly B2...
who had a major international opera career between 1954 and 1990. Cassilly "was a mainstay in the heldentenor repertory in opera houses around the world for 30 years", and particularly excelled in Wagnerian
Richard Wagner
Wilhelm Richard Wagner was a German composer, conductor, theatre director, philosopher, music theorist, poet, essayist and writer primarily known for his operas...
roles like Tristan, Siegmund and Tannhäuser, and in dramatic parts that required both stamina and vocal weight, such as Giuseppe Verdi
Giuseppe Verdi
Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi was an Italian Romantic composer, mainly of opera. He was one of the most influential composers of the 19th century...
's "Otello
Otello
Otello is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Arrigo Boito, based on Shakespeare's play Othello. It was Verdi's penultimate opera, and was first performed at the Teatro alla Scala, Milan, on February 5, 1887....
" and Camille Saint-Saëns
Camille Saint-Saëns
Charles-Camille Saint-Saëns was a French Late-Romantic composer, organist, conductor, and pianist. He is known especially for The Carnival of the Animals, Danse macabre, Samson and Delilah, Piano Concerto No. 2, Cello Concerto No. 1, Havanaise, Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso, and his Symphony...
's "Samson
Samson and Delilah (opera)
Samson and Delilah , Op. 47, is a grand opera in three acts and four scenes by Camille Saint-Saëns to a French libretto by Ferdinand Lemaire...
". He was also an admired Don José in Carmen
Carmen
Carmen is a French opéra comique by Georges Bizet. The libretto is by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, based on the novella of the same title by Prosper Mérimée, first published in 1845, itself possibly influenced by the narrative poem The Gypsies by Alexander Pushkin...
and sang almost all of the leading Puccini
Giacomo Puccini
Giacomo Antonio Domenico Michele Secondo Maria Puccini was an Italian composer whose operas, including La bohème, Tosca, Madama Butterfly, and Turandot, are among the most frequently performed in the standard repertoire...
tenor roles. Standing at 6 foot 3 and possessing a 250-pound frame The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
described him as "a burly tenor with a bright ping on the top notes who had a supple lyric quality [to his voice]", and "was known to bring a musical intelligence and uncommonly clear diction to his work."
Cassilly spent the early years of his opera career singing primarily with the New York City Opera
New York City Opera
The New York City Opera is an American opera company located in New York City.The company, called "the people's opera" by New York Mayor Fiorello La Guardia, was founded in 1943 with the aim of making opera financially accessible to a wide audience, producing an innovative choice of repertory, and...
between 1955–1966, often portraying roles in obscure and contemporary operas. During these years he also traveled frequently throughout North America, appearing with most of the major opera companies in the United States and Canada. In 1965 he launched a major international opera career when he portrayed the title role in a critically acclaimed production of Heinrich Sutermeister
Heinrich Sutermeister
Heinrich Sutermeister was a Swiss opera composer.-Life and career:During the early 1930s he was a student at the Akademie der Tonkunst in Munich where Carl Orff was his teacher and Orff remained a powerful influence on his music. Returning to Switzerland in the mid 1930s, he devoted his life to...
's Raskolnikoff at the Grand Théâtre de Genève
Grand Théâtre de Genève
Grand Théâtre de Genève is an opera house in Geneva, Switzerland.As with many other opera houses, the Grand Théâtre de Genève is both a venue and an institution. The venue is a majestic building, towering over Place Neuve, officially opened in 1876, partly destroyed by fire in 1951 and reopened in...
. This performance earned him a contract with the Hamburg State Opera
Hamburg State Opera
The Hamburg State Opera is one of the leading opera companies in Germany.Opera in Hamburg dates back to 2 January 1678 when the "Opern-Theatrum" was inaugurated with a performance of a biblical Singspiel by Johann Theile...
as their leading in-house dramatic tenor, a position he held from 1965-1978. Engagements with other major companies soon followed, and by 1973 Cassilly had sung leading roles with almost every major opera house in Europe, including La Scala
La Scala
La Scala , is a world renowned opera house in Milan, Italy. The theatre was inaugurated on 3 August 1778 and was originally known as the New Royal-Ducal Theatre at La Scala...
, the Opéra National de Paris, the Vienna State Opera
Vienna State Opera
The Vienna State Opera is an opera house – and opera company – with a history dating back to the mid-19th century. It is located in the centre of Vienna, Austria. It was originally called the Vienna Court Opera . In 1920, with the replacement of the Habsburg Monarchy by the First Austrian...
, and the Bavarian State Opera
Bavarian State Opera
The Bavarian State Opera is an opera company based in Munich, Germany.Its orchestra is the Bavarian State Orchestra.- History:The opera company which was founded under Princess Henriette Adelaide of Savoy has been in existence since 1653...
. Cassilly also forged a strong collaborative partnership with the Royal Opera
Royal Opera, London
The Royal Opera is an opera company based in central London, resident at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. Along with the English National Opera, it is one of the two principal opera companies in London. Founded in 1946 as the Covent Garden Opera Company, it was known by that title until 1968...
in London, appearing in that house almost every year from 1968-1982. In 1978 he joined the roster of principal tenors at the Metropolitan Opera
Metropolitan Opera
The Metropolitan Opera is an opera company, located in New York City. Originally founded in 1880, the company gave its first performance on October 22, 1883. The company is operated by the non-profit Metropolitan Opera Association, with Peter Gelb as general manager...
in New York City, where he spent the majority of his time until his retirement in 1990.
Education and early career
Born in Washington, D.C.Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
, Cassilly spent his childhood on a farm near Aberdeen, Maryland
Aberdeen, Maryland
As of the census of 2000, there were 13,842 people, 5,475 households, and 3,712 families residing in the city. The population density was 2,166.2 people per square mile . There were 5,894 housing units at an average density of 922.4 per square mile...
before moving to Baltimore, Maryland with his family in his early teens. He first became involved in music through singing in his high school's glee club. In 1946, at the age of eighteen, he entered the Peabody Conservatory at Johns Hopkins University
Johns Hopkins University
The Johns Hopkins University, commonly referred to as Johns Hopkins, JHU, or simply Hopkins, is a private research university based in Baltimore, Maryland, United States...
where he studied singing with Hans Heinz. As a student he sang in college productions of The Flying Dutchman
The Flying Dutchman (opera)
Der fliegende Holländer is an opera, with music and libretto by Richard Wagner.Wagner claimed in his 1870 autobiography Mein Leben that he had been inspired to write "The Flying Dutchman" following a stormy sea crossing he made from Riga to London in July and August 1839, but in his 1843...
(as the Steersman) and Madama Butterfly
Madama Butterfly
Madama Butterfly is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini, with an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa. Puccini based his opera in part on the short story "Madame Butterfly" by John Luther Long, which was dramatized by David Belasco...
(as Pinkerton). During this time he also had the opportunity to study under Rosa Ponselle
Rosa Ponselle
Rosa Ponselle , was an American operatic soprano with a large, opulent voice. She sang mainly at the New York Metropolitan Opera and is generally considered by music critics to have been one of the greatest sopranos of the past 100 years.-Early life:She was born Rosa Ponzillo on January 22, 1897,...
who had retired from her career and was residing in Baltimore.
After graduating with a degree in vocal performance in 1952, Cassilly moved to New York City with his first wife and their first child to pursue a performance career. Shortly thereafter he became a member of the John Harms Chorus singing with them at such venues as Town Hall
The Town Hall
The Town Hall is a performance space, located at 123 West 43rd Street, between Sixth Avenue and Broadway, in New York City. It seats approximately 1,500 people.-History:...
between 1952-1954. He also worked as a paid singer for a couple of different churches during this time. Eventually his break came in 1954 when he was hired by William Steinberg
William Steinberg
William Steinberg was a German-American conductor.- Biography :Steinberg was born Hans Wilhelm Steinberg in Cologne, Germany. He displayed early talent as a violinist, pianist, and composer, conducting his own choral/ orchestral composition at age 13...
as the tenor soloist in Beethoven's Symphony No. 9
Symphony No. 9 (Beethoven)
The Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125, is the final complete symphony of Ludwig van Beethoven. Completed in 1824, the symphony is one of the best known works of the Western classical repertoire, and has been adapted for use as the European Anthem...
with the Pittsburgh Symphony. This was followed by his operatic debut on Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
as A Young Man and understudy for Michele in Gian Carlo Menotti
Gian Carlo Menotti
Gian Carlo Menotti was an Italian-American composer and librettist. Although he often referred to himself as an American composer, he kept his Italian citizenship. He wrote the classic Christmas opera, Amahl and the Night Visitors, among about two dozen other operas intended to appeal to popular...
's The Saint of Bleecker Street
The Saint of Bleecker Street
The Saint of Bleecker Street is an opera in three acts by Gian Carlo Menotti to an original English libretto by the composer. It was first performed at The Broadway Theatre in New York City on December 27, 1954. David Poleri and Davis Cunningham alternated in the role of Michele, and Thomas...
in December 1954. The production was a particular hit with the New York public and ran through April 1955. After it closed, the NBC Opera Theatre
NBC Opera Theatre
The NBC Opera Theatre was an American opera company operated by the National Broadcasting Company from 1949 to 1964. The company was established specifically for the purpose of filming both established and new operas for television...
decided to use the cast for a televised version of the show.
American fame and the New York City Opera years:1955-1966
Cassilly's performance in The Saint of Bleecker Street drew the attention of Joseph RosenstockJoseph Rosenstock
Joseph Rosenstock was a Polish Jewish conductor.-Early years:He worked at the State Opera in Wiesbaden before being brought into the Metropolitan Opera in New York to replace Artur Bodanzky in 1928...
, director of the New York City Opera
New York City Opera
The New York City Opera is an American opera company located in New York City.The company, called "the people's opera" by New York Mayor Fiorello La Guardia, was founded in 1943 with the aim of making opera financially accessible to a wide audience, producing an innovative choice of repertory, and...
(NYCO), who invited him to audition for the company in the Spring of 1955. Impressed with the audition, Rosenstock offered him a contract with the company and Cassilly made his NYCO debut in the title role of Tchaikovsky
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (Russian: Пётр Ильи́ч Чайко́вский ; often "Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky" in English. His names are also transliterated "Piotr" or "Petr"; "Ilitsch", "Il'ich" or "Illyich"; and "Tschaikowski", "Tschaikowsky", "Chajkovskij"...
's Cherevichki
Cherevichki
Cherevichki [alternative renderings are The Little Shoes, The Tsarina's Slippers, Les caprices d'Oxane, and Gli stivaletti] is a comic-fantastic opera in 4 acts, 8 scenes, by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. It was composed in 1885 in Maidanovo, Russia...
(performed under the title The Golden Slipper) opposite Beverly Sills
Beverly Sills
Beverly Sills was an American operatic soprano whose peak career was between the 1950s and 1970s. In her prime she was the only real rival to Joan Sutherland as the leading bel canto stylist...
as Oxana on October 13, 1955.
Cassilly sang regularly at the NYCO in productions through 1966, often in contemporary operas or in rarely heard works. He notably sang in several American premieres with the company including Ferdinand in Frank Martin
Frank Martin (composer)
Frank Martin was a Swiss composer, who lived a large part of his life in the Netherlands.-Childhood and youth:...
's The Tempest in 1957 and the Jailer in Luigi Dallapiccola
Luigi Dallapiccola
Luigi Dallapiccola was an Italian composer known for his lyrical twelve-tone compositions.-Biography:Dallapiccola was born at Pisino d'Istria , to Italian parents....
's Il prigioniero
Il prigioniero
Il prigioniero is an opera in a prologue and one act, with music and libretto by Luigi Dallapiccola. The opera was first broadcast by the Italian radio station RAI on 1 December 1949...
, with Norman Treigle
Norman Treigle
Norman Treigle 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....
and Leopold Stokowski
Leopold Stokowski
Leopold Anthony Stokowski was a British-born, naturalised American orchestral conductor, well known for his free-hand performing style that spurned the traditional baton and for obtaining a characteristically sumptuous sound from many of the great orchestras he conducted.In America, Stokowski...
, in 1960. His other roles with the NYCO included Don José in Carmen
Carmen
Carmen is a French opéra comique by Georges Bizet. The libretto is by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, based on the novella of the same title by Prosper Mérimée, first published in 1845, itself possibly influenced by the narrative poem The Gypsies by Alexander Pushkin...
, Edgar Linton in Carlisle Floyd
Carlisle Floyd
Carlisle Floyd is an American opera composer. The son of a Methodist minister, he based many of his works on themes from the South...
's Wuthering Heights
Wuthering Heights (opera)
Wuthering Heights is an opera in a prologue and three acts with music and a libretto by Carlisle Floyd. The work is adapted from Emily Brontë's novel of the same name. The opera premiered at the Santa Fe Opera on July 16, 1958 in a production directed by Irving Guttman...
, Paco in La vida breve
La vida breve
La vida breve is an opera in two acts and four scenes by Manuel de Falla to an original Spanish libretto by Carlos Fernández-Shaw...
, Peter Quint in The Turn of the Screw
The Turn of the Screw (opera)
The Turn of the Screw is a 20th century English chamber opera composed by Benjamin Britten with a libretto by Myfanwy Piper, "wife of the artist John Piper, who had been a friend of the composer since 1935 and had provided designs for several of the operas". The libretto is based on the novella...
, Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly, Sam Polk in Susannah
Susannah
Susannah is an opera in two acts by American composer Carlisle Floyd, who wrote the libretto and music while a member of the piano faculty at Florida State University. Floyd adapted the story from the Apocryphal tale of Susannah and the Elders, though the latter story has a more positive ending...
, the Soldier in Bucci
Mark Bucci
Mark Bucci was an American composer, lyricist, and dramatist. Influenced by Giacomo Puccini, his work is composed in a contemporary yet lyrical style which frequently employs marked rhythms and memorable harmonies and melodies.-Career:Bucci studied music composition with Tibor Serly in New York...
's Tale for a Deaf Ear
Tale for a Deaf Ear
Tale for a Deaf Ear is an opera in one act with music and lyrics by Mark Bucci, sung in three languages and based on a story by Elizabeth Enright that appeared in the April 1951 edition of Harper's Magazine. The work was commissioned by Samuel Wechsler for performance at the 1957 Tanglewood Music...
, the Tenor in Hugo Weisgall
Hugo Weisgall
Hugo David Weisgall was an American composer and conductor, known chiefly for his opera and vocal music compositions...
's The Tenor, and the tile roles in Stravinsky's Oedipus rex
Oedipus rex (opera)
Oedipus rex is an "Opera-oratorio after Sophocles" by Igor Stravinsky, scored for orchestra, speaker, soloists, and male chorus. The libretto, based on Sophocles's tragedy, was written by Jean Cocteau in French and then translated by Abbé Jean Daniélou into Latin...
among others. His last performance as a regular member of the company was in March 1966 as Sergei in Dmitri Shostakovich
Dmitri Shostakovich
Dmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich was a Soviet Russian composer and one of the most celebrated composers of the 20th century....
's Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District
Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District (opera)
Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District is an opera in four acts by Dmitri Shostakovich, his Op.29. The libretto was written by Alexander Preis and the composer, and is based on the story Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk District by Nikolai Leskov. The opera is sometimes referred to informally as Lady Macbeth...
(performed under the title Katerina Ismailova).
During his time with NYCO Cassilly was also busy with many other musical ensembles and organizations in New York City. He sang often with the American Opera Society
American Opera Society
The American Opera Society was a New York City based musical organization that presented concert and semi-staged performances of operas between 1951 and 1970...
(AOS) in concert performances of operas at Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, United States, located at 881 Seventh Avenue, occupying the east stretch of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street and West 57th Street, two blocks south of Central Park....
and Town Hall, sharing the stage with such opera greats as Walter Berry, Marilyn Horne
Marilyn Horne
Marilyn Horne is an American mezzo-soprano opera singer. She specialized in roles requiring a large sound, beauty of tone, excellent breath support, and the ability to execute difficult coloratura passages....
, Christa Ludwig
Christa Ludwig
Christa Ludwig is a retired German mezzo-soprano, distinguished for her performances of opera, Lieder, oratorio and other major religious works like masses and passions, and solos contained in symphonic literature...
, Regina Resnik
Regina Resnik
Regina Resnik is an American operatic singer.Regina Resnik, the American mezzo-soprano, started a dramatic career ten months after earning her B.A. in Music at Hunter College. The role was Lady Macbeth under Fritz Busch in December, 1942 with the New Opera Company. A few months later, she sang...
, Giulietta Simionato
Giulietta Simionato
Giulietta Simionato was an Italian mezzo-soprano. Her career spanned from the 1930s until her retirement in 1966.-Life:Born at Forlì, Romagna, she studied in Rovigo and Padua, and made her operatic debut at Montagnana in 1928...
, Eleanor Steber
Eleanor Steber
Eleanor Steber was an American operatic soprano. Steber is noted as one of the first major opera stars to have achieved the highest success with training and a career based in the United States.-Biography:...
, and Joan Sutherland
Joan Sutherland
Dame Joan Alston Sutherland, OM, AC, DBE was an Australian dramatic coloratura soprano noted for her contribution to the renaissance of the bel canto repertoire from the late 1950s through to the 1980s....
among others. His roles with the AOS included Percy in Anna Bolena
Anna Bolena
Anna Bolena is a tragedia lirica, or opera, in two acts by Gaetano Donizetti. Felice Romani wrote the Italian libretto after Ippolito Pindemonte's Enrico VIII ossia Anna Bolena and Alessandro Pepoli's Anna Bolena, both telling of the life of Anne Boleyn...
(1957), Tebaldo in I Capuleti e i Montecchi
I Capuleti e i Montecchi
I Capuleti e i Montecchi is an Italian opera in two acts by Vincenzo Bellini.The libretto by Felice Romani was a reworking of the story of Romeo and Juliet for an opera by Nicola Vaccai called Giulietta e Romeo. This was based on Italian sources rather than taken directly from Shakespeare...
(1958), Énée in Les Troyens
Les Troyens
Les Troyens is a French opera in five acts by Hector Berlioz. The libretto was written by Berlioz himself, based on Virgil's epic poem The Aeneid...
(1960), Orombello in Beatrice di Tenda
Beatrice di Tenda
Beatrice di Tenda is a tragic opera in two acts by Vincenzo Bellini, from a libretto by Felice Romani, after the play of the same name by Carlo Tedaldi-Fores...
(1961), and Pylade in Iphigénie en Tauride
Iphigénie en Tauride
Iphigénie en Tauride is an opera by Christoph Willibald Gluck in four acts. It was his fifth opera for the French stage. The libretto was written by Nicolas-François Guillard....
(1965). He also sang the role of Hermann in a concert performance of The Queen of Spades
The Queen of Spades (opera)
The Queen of Spades, Op. 68 is an opera in 3 acts by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky to a Russian libretto by the composer's brother Modest Tchaikovsky, based on a short story of the same name by Alexander Pushkin. The premiere took place in 1890 in St...
opposite Phyllis Curtin
Phyllis Curtin
Phyllis Curtin is an American classical soprano who had an active career in operas and concerts from the early 1950s through the 1980s. She was known for her creation of new roles such as the title role in the Carlisle Floyd opera Susannah, Catherine Earnshaw in Floyd's Wuthering Heights, and in...
in the title role and sang the role of Martin in Aaron Copland
Aaron Copland
Aaron Copland was an American composer, composition teacher, writer, and later in his career a conductor of his own and other American music. He was instrumental in forging a distinctly American style of composition, and is often referred to as "the Dean of American Composers"...
's The Tender Land
The Tender Land
The Tender Land is an opera with music by Aaron Copland and libretto by Horace Everett, a pseudonym for Erik Johns. The opera tells of a farm family in the Midwest of the United States. Copland was inspired to write this opera after viewing the Depression-era photographs of Walker Evans and...
, both with the New York Philharmonic
New York Philharmonic
The New York Philharmonic is a symphony orchestra based in New York City in the United States. It is one of the American orchestras commonly referred to as the "Big Five"...
in 1965.
Although Cassilly was primarily working in New York during these years, he did travel frequently for performances with other companies and musical ensembles both in United States and internationally. In 1955 he made his first appearance in Philadelphia at the Mann Center for the Performing Arts
Mann Center for the Performing Arts
The Mann Center for The Performing Arts is a 14,000 seat summer musical venue located in Philadelphia's West Fairmount Park. The venue operates as both an indoor performance hall and an outdoor music venue...
with the Robin Hood Dell Orchestra as Don José in a concert performance Carmen. That same year he sang his first Mario Cavaradossi in Tosca
Tosca
Tosca is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa. It premiered at the Teatro Costanzi in Rome on 14 January 1900...
opposite Licia Albanese
Licia Albanese
Licia Albanese is an Italian-born American operatic soprano. Noted especially for her portrayals of the lyric heroines of Verdi and Puccini, Albanese was a leading artist with the Metropolitan Opera of New York from 1940 to 1966...
in the title role in his debut with the Philadelphia Grand Opera Company
Philadelphia Grand Opera Company
The Philadelphia Grand Opera Company was the name of four different American opera companies active at the Academy of Music in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania during the twentieth century. The last and most well known of the four was founded in November 1954 with the merger of the Philadelphia Civic...
. He returned to that company several more times singing the roles of Don José (1958) and Pinkerton (1958, 1960, 1961). He also sang a few times with the Philadelphia Lyric Opera Company
Philadelphia Lyric Opera Company
The Philadelphia Lyric Opera Company was an American opera company located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania that was active between 1958 and 1974. The company was led by a number of Artistic Directors during its history, beginning with Aurelio Fabiani. Other notable Artistic Directors include Julius...
during these years in the roles of Oedipus rex (1959), Sam Polk (1960), and the title role in Wagner's Lohengrin
Lohengrin (opera)
Lohengrin is a romantic opera in three acts composed and written by Richard Wagner, first performed in 1850. The story of the eponymous character is taken from medieval German romance, notably the Parzival of Wolfram von Eschenbach and its sequel, Lohengrin, written by a different author, itself...
(1961).
Cassilly made his first appearance outside of the United States in 1957 with the Canadian Opera Company
Canadian Opera Company
The Canadian Opera Company is an opera company in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is the largest opera company in Canada and the third largest producer of opera in North America. The COC performs in its own opera house, the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts.-History:For 40 years until...
as Cavaradossi in Tosca. He reprised the role later that year at Fort Worth Opera
Fort Worth Opera
According to the company, Fort Worth Opera is the oldest, continually performing opera company in the state of Texas and among the oldest in the United States. While originally presenting operas one at a time over a fall/winter season, it changed to a "festival" format in 2007...
with Phyllis Curtin in the title role and Walter Cassel
Walter Cassel
Walter Cassel was a renowned American operatic baritone and actor. He began his career singing on the radio during the mid 1930s and appeared in a couple of Hollywood musical films in the late 1930s. He made his first stage appearances in a handful of Broadway productions during the late 1930s and...
as Scarpia. In February 1958 he sang Pollione in Bellini
Vincenzo Bellini
Vincenzo Salvatore Carmelo Francesco Bellini was an Italian opera composer. His greatest works are I Capuleti ed i Montecchi , La sonnambula , Norma , Beatrice di Tenda , and I puritani...
's Norma
Norma (opera)
Norma is a tragedia lirica or opera in two acts by Vincenzo Bellini with libretto by Felice Romani after Norma, ossia L'infanticidio by Alexandre Soumet. First produced at La Scala on December 26, 1831, it is generally regarded as an example of the supreme height of the bel canto tradition...
with New Orleans Opera
New Orleans Opera
Opera has long been part of the musical culture of New Orleans, Louisiana. Operas have regularly been performed in the city since the 1790s, and for the majority of the city's history since the early 19th century, New Orleans has had a resident company regularly performing opera in addition to...
. This was followed by his European debut in July 1958 portraying the role of Sam Polk in Carlisle Floyd
Carlisle Floyd
Carlisle Floyd is an American opera composer. The son of a Methodist minister, he based many of his works on themes from the South...
's Susannah
Susannah
Susannah is an opera in two acts by American composer Carlisle Floyd, who wrote the libretto and music while a member of the piano faculty at Florida State University. Floyd adapted the story from the Apocryphal tale of Susannah and the Elders, though the latter story has a more positive ending...
at the Brussels World's Fair in a production transported from the NYCO. In the summer of 1959 he sang the title role in Peter Grimes
Peter Grimes
Peter Grimes is an opera by Benjamin Britten, with a libretto adapted by Montagu Slater from the Peter Grimes section of George Crabbe's poem The Borough...
and portrayed the role of Don José opposite Nell Rankin
Nell Rankin
Nell Rankin was an American operatic mezzo-soprano. Although a successful opera singer internationally, she spent most of her career at the Metropolitan Opera where she worked from 1951-1976. Rankin was particularly admired for her portrayals of Amneris in Verdi's Aida and the title role in...
's Carmen with Cincinnati Opera
Cincinnati Opera
Cincinnati Opera is an American opera company based in Cincinnati, Ohio and the second oldest opera company in the United States .-History:...
.
The following November he made his first appearance with the Lyric Opera of Chicago
Lyric Opera of Chicago
Lyric Opera of Chicago is one of the leading opera companies in the United States. It was founded in Chicago in 1952, under the name 'Lyric Theatre of Chicago' by Carol Fox, Nicolà Rescigno and Lawrence Kelly, with a season that included Maria Callas's American debut in Norma...
as Laca Klemeň in Leoš Janáček
Leoš Janácek
Leoš Janáček was a Czech composer, musical theorist, folklorist, publicist and teacher. He was inspired by Moravian and all Slavic folk music to create an original, modern musical style. Until 1895 he devoted himself mainly to folkloristic research and his early musical output was influenced by...
's Jenůfa
Jenufa
Jenůfa is an opera in three acts by Leoš Janáček to a Czech libretto by the composer, based on the play Její pastorkyňa by Gabriela Preissová. It was first performed at the Brno Theater, Brno, 21 January 1904...
opposite Sylvia Fisher
Sylvia Fisher
Sylvia Fisher was an Australian operatic soprano whose stage career was made in England, who was especially distinguished in German opera, and who created the role of Miss Wingrave in Benjamin Britten's Owen Wingrave in 1971....
in the title role.
In 1960 Cassilly sang Don José for three house debut performances: the Houston Grand Opera
Houston Grand Opera
Houston Grand Opera Houston Grand Opera was founded in 1955 through the joint efforts of Maestro Walter Herbert and cultural leaders Mrs. Louis G. Lobit, Edward Bing and Charles Cockrell...
(in January opposite Claramae Turner
Claramae Turner
Claramae Turner is an American opera singer. She is perhaps best known for singing You'll Never Walk Alone and some of June Is Bustin' Out all Over in the musical film Carousel, adapted from the Rodgers and Hammerstein stage musical of the same name.Born in Dinuba, California, she was a contralto...
as Carmen), the Vancouver Opera
Vancouver Opera
Vancouver Opera is the second largest performing arts organization in British Columbia and the largest opera company in western Canada.It performs in the Queen Elizabeth Theatre accompanied currently by the Vancouver Opera Orchestra, one of two specialized opera orchestras in Canada...
(in April with Nan Merriman
Nan Merriman
Nan Merriman is an American operatic mezzo-soprano.Nan Merriman studied singing in Los Angeles with Alexis Bassian and the legendary Lotte Lehmann. By the age of twenty she was singing in Hollywood film soundtracks and it was there that she was spotted by Laurence Olivier...
as Carmen), and the Opera Company of Boston
Opera Company of Boston
The Opera Company of Boston was an American opera company located in Boston, Massachusetts that was active during the late 1950s through the early 1990s. The company was founded by American conductor Sarah Caldwell in 1958 under the name Boston Opera Group. At one time, the touring arm of the...
(in May with Gloria Lane as Carmen). In the summer of that year he returned to Cincinnati Opera to sing his first Radames in Aida
Aida
Aida sometimes spelled Aïda, is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Antonio Ghislanzoni, based on a scenario written by French Egyptologist Auguste Mariette...
, and in the Fall he went back to the Lyric Opera of Chicago to sing both Don José (opposite Jean Madeira
Jean Madeira
Jean Madeira was an American mezzo-soprano, particularly known for her work in late-romantic German repertoire such as the operas of Richard Wagner and Richard Strauss...
) and Pinkerton (opposite Leontyne Price
Leontyne Price
Mary Violet Leontyne Price is an American soprano. Born and raised in the Deep South, she rose to international acclaim in the 1950s and 1960s, and was one of the first African Americans to become a leading artist at the Metropolitan Opera.One critic characterized Price's voice as "vibrant",...
). In 1962 he returned to the Houston Grand Opera to sing two new roles, Canio in I Pagliacci and Walther in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg
Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg
Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg is an opera in three acts, written and composed by Richard Wagner. It is among the longest operas still commonly performed today, usually taking around four and a half hours. It was first performed at the Königliches Hof- und National-Theater in Munich, on June 21,...
. In the Summer of 1963 he sang his first Manrico in Verdi's Il trovatore
Il trovatore
Il trovatore is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Salvadore Cammarano, based on the play El Trovador by Antonio García Gutiérrez. Cammarano died in mid-1852 before completing the libretto...
with Lucine Amara
Lucine Amara
Lucine Amara is an American soprano who was largely based at the Metropolitan Opera in New York.-Biography:Amara was born Lucine Armaganian in Hartford, Connecticut, of Armenian heritage, before moving to San Francisco where she was raised.She studied at the San Francisco's Community Music School...
as Leonora for his debut with Central City Opera
Central City Opera
Central City Opera is the fifth-oldest opera company in the United States, founded in 1932. Each festival is presented in the 550-seat historic Central City Opera House built in 1878 in the gold mining era town of Central City, Colorado. Pelham G...
. This was followed by his first Don Alvaro in Verdi's La forza del destino
La forza del destino
La forza del destino is an Italian opera by Giuseppe Verdi. The libretto was written by Francesco Maria Piave based on a Spanish drama, Don Álvaro o la fuerza del sino , by Ángel de Saavedra, Duke of Rivas, with a scene adapted from Friedrich Schiller's Wallensteins Lager. It was first performed...
in November with New Orleans Opera. In 1964 he debuted with the San Francisco Opera
San Francisco Opera
San Francisco Opera is an American opera company, based in San Francisco, California.It was founded in 1923 by Gaetano Merola and is the second largest opera company in North America...
as Max in Der Freischütz
Der Freischütz
Der Freischütz is an opera in three acts by Carl Maria von Weber with a libretto by Friedrich Kind. It premiered on 18 June 1821 at the Schauspielhaus Berlin...
and returned to Cincinnati Opera to sing his first Baron von Eisenstein in Die Fledermaus
Die Fledermaus
Die Fledermaus is an operetta composed by Johann Strauss II to a German libretto by Karl Haffner and Richard Genée.- Literary sources :...
.
International fame and the Hamburg State Opera years:1965-1978
In 1965, Cassilly returned to Europe having not performed there since his 1958 debut, singing the title role in Heinrich SutermeisterHeinrich Sutermeister
Heinrich Sutermeister was a Swiss opera composer.-Life and career:During the early 1930s he was a student at the Akademie der Tonkunst in Munich where Carl Orff was his teacher and Orff remained a powerful influence on his music. Returning to Switzerland in the mid 1930s, he devoted his life to...
's Raskolnikoff at the Grand Théâtre de Genève
Grand Théâtre de Genève
Grand Théâtre de Genève is an opera house in Geneva, Switzerland.As with many other opera houses, the Grand Théâtre de Genève is both a venue and an institution. The venue is a majestic building, towering over Place Neuve, officially opened in 1876, partly destroyed by fire in 1951 and reopened in...
. Earning rave reviews, Cassilly was soon approached with offers to join the Hamburg State Opera
Hamburg State Opera
The Hamburg State Opera is one of the leading opera companies in Germany.Opera in Hamburg dates back to 2 January 1678 when the "Opern-Theatrum" was inaugurated with a performance of a biblical Singspiel by Johann Theile...
(HSO) and the Deutsche Oper Berlin
Deutsche Oper Berlin
The Deutsche Oper Berlin is an opera company located in the Charlottenburg district of Berlin, Germany. The resident building is also home to the Berlin State Ballet.-History:...
. He decided to accept a single engagement in Berlin but signed a longterm contract with the HSO, ultimately moving his family to that city. Cassilly was the HSO's leading dramatic tenor between 1966 and 1978 where he sang a total of 55 roles, often singing as many as three or four different roles per week. He was a particular house favorite in the Wagner roles of Siegmund, Walther, Tristan, and Tannhäuser. He made his debut with the company singing Cavaradossi opposite the Tosca of Suzanne Sarroca in October 1966. He notably appeared as Florestan in the company's 1968 film of Beethoven's Fidelio
Fidelio
Fidelio is a German opera in two acts by Ludwig van Beethoven. It is Beethoven's only opera. The German libretto is by Joseph Sonnleithner from the French of Jean-Nicolas Bouilly which had been used for the 1798 opera Léonore, ou L’amour conjugal by Pierre Gaveaux, and for the 1804 opera Leonora...
, opposite Anja Silja
Anja Silja
Anja Silja Regina Langwagen, , born April 17, 1940, in Berlin, is a German soprano who is known for her great abilities as a singing-actress and for the vastness of her repertoire....
. He also portrayed Aron in a critically acclaimed 1974 production of Schoenberg
Arnold Schoenberg
Arnold Schoenberg was an Austrian composer, associated with the expressionist movement in German poetry and art, and leader of the Second Viennese School...
's Moses und Aron
Moses und Aron
Moses und Aron is a three-act opera by Arnold Schoenberg with the third act unfinished. The German libretto was by the composer after the Book of Exodus.-Compositional history:...
with the company which was later recorded under the conductor Pierre Boulez
Pierre Boulez
Pierre Boulez is a French composer of contemporary classical music, a pianist, and a conductor.-Early years:Boulez was born in Montbrison, Loire, France. As a child he began piano lessons and demonstrated aptitude in both music and mathematics...
. The city of Hamburg
Hamburg
-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...
honored him by bestowing on him the title of "Kammersänger". During his time there he also would travel periodically to sing with the Badisches Staatstheater Karlsruhe
Badisches Staatstheater Karlsruhe
The Badisches Staatstheater Karlsruhe is a theatre and opera house in Karlsruhe, Germany. It has existed in its present form and place at Ettlinger Tor since 1975...
and the Nationaltheater Mannheim
Nationaltheater Mannheim
The present National Theatre Mannheim , which dates from 1957, is a theatre and opera company in Mannheim, Germany with a variety of performance spaces...
.
The year 1965 not only marked Cassily's first major European appearance, but also brought a personal triumph for Cassilly in February of that year: singing the title role in Charles Gounod
Charles Gounod
Charles-François Gounod was a French composer, known for his Ave Maria as well as his operas Faust and Roméo et Juliette.-Biography:...
's Faust
Faust (opera)
Faust is a drame lyrique in five acts by Charles Gounod to a French libretto by Jules Barbier and Michel Carré from Carré's play Faust et Marguerite, in turn loosely based on Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's Faust, Part 1...
for his first professional opera performance in his home city at the Baltimore Civic Opera. The following October he made his debut with Montreal Opera singing Radames with conductor Zubin Mehta
Zubin Mehta
Zubin Mehta is an Indian conductor of western classical music. He is the Music Director for Life of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra.-Biography:...
, Virginia Zeani
Virginia Zeani
Virginia Zeani is a Romanian soprano, particularly associated with the Italian repertory, especially the role of in "La traviata".-Early life:Zeani was born Virginia Zehan, in Solovăstru, Romania...
is Aida and Lili Chookasian
Lili Chookasian
Lili Chookasian is an American contralto who has appeared with many of the world's major symphony orchestras and opera houses. She began her career in the 1940s as a concert singer but did not draw wider acclaim until she began singing opera in her late thirties...
as Amneris. This was followed by a performance of Britten's War Requiem
War Requiem
The War Requiem, Op. 66 is a large-scale, non-liturgical setting of the Requiem Mass composed by Benjamin Britten mostly in 1961 and completed January 1962. Interspersed with the traditional Latin texts, in telling juxtaposition, are settings of Wilfred Owen poems...
with the San Antonio Symphony
San Antonio Symphony
The San Antonio Symphony is a full-time professional symphony orchestra based in San Antonio, Texas. Its season runs from late September to early June...
. In 1966 Cassily returned to the San Francisco Opera to sing Grigoriy in Boris Godunov
Boris Godunov (opera)
Boris Godunov is an opera by Modest Mussorgsky . The work was composed between 1868 and 1873 in Saint Petersburg, Russia. It is Mussorgsky's only completed opera and is considered his masterpiece. Its subjects are the Russian ruler Boris Godunov, who reigned as Tsar during the Time of Troubles,...
and Aegisth in Elektra
Elektra (opera)
Elektra is a one-act opera by Richard Strauss, to a German-language libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal, which he adapted from his 1903 drama Elektra. The opera was the first of many collaborations between Strauss and Hofmannsthal...
. In April 1967 he made his Seattle Opera
Seattle Opera
The Seattle Opera is an opera company located in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1963 by Glynn Ross, who served as the company's first general director through 1983, Seattle Opera's season runs from August to late May, with five or six operas offered and with eight to ten performances each, often...
debut singing Manrico to Eileen Farrell
Eileen Farrell
Eileen Farrell was an American soprano who had a nearly 60 year long career performing both classical and popular music in concerts, theatres, on radio and television, and on disc. While she was active as an opera singer, her concert engagements far outnumbered her theatrical appearances...
's Leonora and Sherrill Milnes
Sherrill Milnes
Sherrill Milnes is an American operatic baritone most famous for his Verdi roles. From 1965 until 1997 he was associated with the Metropolitan Opera....
's Count DiLuna in Verdi's Il Trovatore. That summer he performed at Lincoln Center in Washinginton D.C. with the Hamburg State Opera's transport productions of Mathis der Maler (as the Archbishop) and Jenůfa. This was followed by his first performance of the title role in Verdi's Otello
Otello
Otello is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Arrigo Boito, based on Shakespeare's play Othello. It was Verdi's penultimate opera, and was first performed at the Teatro alla Scala, Milan, on February 5, 1887....
with HSO the following September. In October 1967 he returned to Vancouver Opera to sing the role of Dick Johnson for the first time in Puccini's La fanciulla del West
La fanciulla del West
La fanciulla del West is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Guelfo Civinini and Carlo Zangarini, based on the play The Girl of the Golden West by the American author David Belasco. Its highly-publicised premiere occurred in New York City in 1910...
with Dorothy Kirsten
Dorothy Kirsten
Dorothy Kirsten was an American operatic soprano.-Biography:...
as Minnie, Chester Ludgin
Chester Ludgin
-Biography:Chester Ludgin was a native of Brooklyn, New York. He made his professional debut in 1956 with The Experimental Opera Theatre of America , as Baron Scarpia in Giacomo Puccini's Tosca, conducted by Renato Cellini and directed by Armando Agnini...
as Jack Rance, and Fausta Cleva conducting. The following December he sang Erik to Ingrid Bjoner
Ingrid Bjoner
Ingrid Kristine Bjoner Pierpoint was a Norwegian soprano who had a prolific international opera career between 1956 and 1990. She was particularly celebrated for her portrayal of Wagnerian heroines and for her performances in operas by Richard Strauss...
's Senta in The Flying Dutchman at the New Orleans Opera.
On February 16, 1968 Cassilly made his debut at the Royal Opera
Royal Opera, London
The Royal Opera is an opera company based in central London, resident at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. Along with the English National Opera, it is one of the two principal opera companies in London. Founded in 1946 as the Covent Garden Opera Company, it was known by that title until 1968...
, Covent Garden
Covent Garden
Covent Garden is a district in London on the eastern fringes of the West End, between St. Martin's Lane and Drury Lane. It is associated with the former fruit and vegetable market in the central square, now a popular shopping and tourist site, and the Royal Opera House, which is also known as...
as Laca Klemeň to Marie Collier
Marie Collier
Marie Collier was an Australian operatic soprano.Marie Collier was born in Ballarat, Victoria. She first came to prominence in 1952 singing the role of Santuzza in Cavalleria rusticana for the National Theatre Opera company in Melbourne...
's Jenůfa with Astrid Varnay
Astrid Varnay
Ibolyka Astrid Maria Varnay was an American dramatic soprano of Hungarian heritage and Swedish birth, who did most of her work in the United States and Germany. She was one of the best-known Wagnerian heroic sopranos of her generation...
as the Kostelnicka. He returned there almost every year through 1982, portraying the roles of Aeneas in Les Troyens
Les Troyens
Les Troyens is a French opera in five acts by Hector Berlioz. The libretto was written by Berlioz himself, based on Virgil's epic poem The Aeneid...
(1977), the Drum Major in Wozzeck
Wozzeck
Wozzeck is the first opera by the Austrian composer Alban Berg. It was composed between 1914 and 1922 and first performed in 1925. The opera is based on the drama Woyzeck left incomplete by the German playwright Georg Büchner at his death. Berg attended the first production in Vienna of Büchner's...
(1974), Florestan (1969), Herod in Salome
Salome (opera)
Salome is an opera in one act by Richard Strauss to a German libretto by the composer, based on Hedwig Lachmann’s German translation of the French play Salomé by Oscar Wilde. Strauss dedicated the opera to his friend Sir Edgar Speyer....
(1979), Laca Klemeň (1968–1972), the title role in Peter Grimes
Peter Grimes
Peter Grimes is an opera by Benjamin Britten, with a libretto adapted by Montagu Slater from the Peter Grimes section of George Crabbe's poem The Borough...
(1976), Otello (1968), Siegmund in Wagner's Die Walküre
Die Walküre
Die Walküre , WWV 86B, is the second of the four operas that form the cycle Der Ring des Nibelungen , by Richard Wagner...
(1971–1982), the title role in Tannhäuser
Tannhäuser (opera)
Tannhäuser is an opera in three acts, music and text by Richard Wagner, based on the two German legends of Tannhäuser and the song contest at Wartburg...
(1972–1974), and Troilus in Troilus and Cressida
Troilus and Cressida (opera)
Troilus and Cressida is the first of the two operas by William Walton. The libretto was by Christopher Hassall, his own first opera libretto, based on Chaucer's poem Troilus and Criseyde...
(1975). Cassilly notably recorded several of these roles with the Royal Opera, including Siegmund and Troilus.
Cassilly made his only appearance at La Scala
La Scala
La Scala , is a world renowned opera house in Milan, Italy. The theatre was inaugurated on 3 August 1778 and was originally known as the New Royal-Ducal Theatre at La Scala...
in January 1970 as Samson in Saint-Saëns
Camille Saint-Saëns
Charles-Camille Saint-Saëns was a French Late-Romantic composer, organist, conductor, and pianist. He is known especially for The Carnival of the Animals, Danse macabre, Samson and Delilah, Piano Concerto No. 2, Cello Concerto No. 1, Havanaise, Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso, and his Symphony...
's Samson et Dalila
Samson and Delilah (opera)
Samson and Delilah , Op. 47, is a grand opera in three acts and four scenes by Camille Saint-Saëns to a French libretto by Ferdinand Lemaire...
. The following April he sang Otello for his first appearance at the Bavarian State Opera
Bavarian State Opera
The Bavarian State Opera is an opera company based in Munich, Germany.Its orchestra is the Bavarian State Orchestra.- History:The opera company which was founded under Princess Henriette Adelaide of Savoy has been in existence since 1653...
and on June 13 sang Tannhäuser to Claire Watson
Claire Watson
Claire Watson was an American soprano, particularly associated with Mozart and Richard Strauss roles....
's Elisabeth for his Vienna State Opera
Vienna State Opera
The Vienna State Opera is an opera house – and opera company – with a history dating back to the mid-19th century. It is located in the centre of Vienna, Austria. It was originally called the Vienna Court Opera . In 1920, with the replacement of the Habsburg Monarchy by the First Austrian...
debut. In October he made his first appearance at the San Diego Opera
San Diego Opera
The San Diego Opera Association is a professional opera company located in the city of San Diego, California and is a member of OPERA America. It was founded in 1950 to present productions by San Francisco Opera in the San Diego area...
as Calaf in Turandot
Turandot
Turandot is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini, set to a libretto in Italian by Giuseppe Adami and Renato Simoni.Though Puccini's first interest in the subject was based on his reading of Friedrich Schiller's adaptation of the play, his work is most nearly based on the earlier text Turandot...
followed by his Pittsburgh Opera
Pittsburgh Opera
Pittsburgh Opera is an American opera company based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It is one of two opera companies in the city, the other being Opera Theatre of Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh Opera gives performances in several venues, primarily at the Benedum Center, with other performances at the...
debut in December as Tannhäuser.
In 1972 Cassily returned to the San Francisco Opera to sing Radames in Aida
Aida
Aida sometimes spelled Aïda, is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Antonio Ghislanzoni, based on a scenario written by French Egyptologist Auguste Mariette...
and the mayor in the American premiere of Gottfried von Einem
Gottfried von Einem
Gottfried von Einem was an Austrian composer. He is known chiefly for his operas influenced by the music of Stravinsky and Prokofiev, as well as by jazz. He also composed pieces for piano, violin and organ.-Biography:...
's The Visit of the Old Lady
Der Besuch der alten Dame
Der Besuch der alten Dame is an opera in three acts by Gottfried von Einem to a German libretto by Friedrich Dürrenmatt, based on his play of the same name.-Performance history:...
. On January 20, 1973, he made his highly anticipated Metropolitan Opera
Metropolitan Opera
The Metropolitan Opera is an opera company, located in New York City. Originally founded in 1880, the company gave its first performance on October 22, 1883. The company is operated by the non-profit Metropolitan Opera Association, with Peter Gelb as general manager...
debut as Radamès opposite Lucine Amara
Lucine Amara
Lucine Amara is an American soprano who was largely based at the Metropolitan Opera in New York.-Biography:Amara was born Lucine Armaganian in Hartford, Connecticut, of Armenian heritage, before moving to San Francisco where she was raised.She studied at the San Francisco's Community Music School...
as Aida, Irene Dalis
Irene Dalis
Irene Dalis is an American mezzo-soprano born in San José, California. She made her debut in 1953 as Eboli in Don Carlo by Giuseppe Verdi in Germany. She made her debut at the Metropolitan Opera, New York, also as Eboli in Don Carlo, on March 16, 1957, earning fine reviews. That was the first of ...
as Amneris, Cornell MacNeil
Cornell MacNeil
Cornell MacNeil , was an American operatic baritone known for his exceptional voice and long career with the Metropolitan Opera, which spanned 642 performances in twenty-six roles. F...
as Amonasro, and Giorgio Tozzi
Giorgio Tozzi
Giorgio Tozzi was for many years a leading bass with the Metropolitan Opera, as well as playing lead roles in nearly every major opera house worldwide.-Career:Tozzi was born George John Tozzi in Chicago, Illinois...
as Ramfis. The following March he sang Tannhäuser at the Opéra de Bordeaux and on June 3 made his debut at the Opéra National de Paris as Aegisth and later in the month Siegmund. The following summer he sang the role of Jason in Luigi Cherubini
Luigi Cherubini
Luigi Cherubini was an Italian composer who spent most of his working life in France. His most significant compositions are operas and sacred music. Beethoven regarded Cherubini as the greatest of his contemporaries....
's rarely heard Médée
Médée (Cherubini)
Médée is a French language opéra-comique by Luigi Cherubini.The libretto by François-Benoît Hoffmann was based on Euripides' tragedy of Medea and Pierre Corneille's play Médée....
at the Caramoor International Music Festival
Caramoor International Music Festival
The Caramoor International Music Festival is a summer music festival founded in 1945 that is held on the estate of the Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts Inc., which includes a Mediterranean-style stucco villa and is located about north of New York City in Katonah, New York.The Caramoor...
, which was also transported to New York City for a performance as of part the NYCO opera season.
In 1975 Cassily sang the Siegmund opposite Birgit Nilsson
Birgit Nilsson
right|thumb|Nilsson in 1948.Birgit Nilsson was a celebrated Swedish dramatic soprano who specialized in operatic and symphonic works...
's Bruennhilde at the Orange Festival, a pairing which was repeated the following year at the Palau de la Música Catalana
Palau de la Música Catalana
The Palau de la Música Catalana is a concert hall in Barcelona. Designed in the Catalan modernista style by the architect Lluís Domènech i Montaner, it was built between 1905 and 1908 for the Orfeó Català, a choral society founded in 1891 that was a leading force in the Catalan cultural movement...
in Barcelona
Barcelona
Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of...
. In January 1976 he appeared for the first time at the Teatro Nacional de São Carlos
Teatro Nacional de São Carlos
The Teatro Nacional de São Carlos is an opera house in Lisbon, Portugal. It was opened on July 30, 1793 by Queen Maria I as a replacement for the Tejo Opera House, which was destroyed in the 1755 Lisbon earthquake...
as Otello. In 1977 he sang Tannhäuser for his debut with the Royal Danish Opera.
The Metropolitan Opera years:1978-1990
In 1978 Cassilly joined the roster of the Metropolitan Opera after having not appeared there since his debut at the house in 1973. His returned with a critically acclaimed performance of the title role in Wagner's Tannhäuser on January 26, 1978 with Teresa Kubiak as Elisabeth, Bernd WeiklBernd Weikl
Bernd Weikl is an Austrian operatic baritone, best known for his performances in the operas of Richard Wagner.- Early career :...
as Wolfram, and Grace Bumbry
Grace Bumbry
Grace Bumbry , an American opera singer, is considered one of the leading mezzo-sopranos of her generation, as well as a major soprano for many years...
as Venus. With the exception of the year 1988, he appeared at the Met every year through 1990. Among the many roles he portrayed at the house during this time are Aegisth (1980–1984), Canio (1980–1981), Captain Vere in Billy Budd
Billy Budd (opera)
Billy Budd is an opera by Benjamin Britten, from a libretto by E. M. Forster and Eric Crozier, was first performed at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London on 1 December 1951. It is based on the short novel Billy Budd by Herman Melville....
(1980–1989), Don José (1980), Drum Major (1980–1989), Herod (1981–1990), Jimmy Mahoney in Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny
Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny
Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny is a political-satirical opera composed by Kurt Weill to a German libretto by Bertolt Brecht. It was first performed in Leipzig on 9 March 1930.-Composition history:...
(1979–1984), the title role in Œdipus rex (in John Dexter
John Dexter
John Dexter was an English theatre, opera, and film director.- Theatre :Born in Derby, England, Dexter left school at the age of fourteen to serve in the British army during World War II. Following the war, he began working as a stage actor before turning to producing and directing shows for...
's production, 1981), Otello (1978–1980), Peter Grimes (1983), Samson (1981), Tannhäuser (1978–1987), and Tristan in Tristan und Isolde
Tristan und Isolde
Tristan und Isolde is an opera, or music drama, in three acts by Richard Wagner to a German libretto by the composer, based largely on the romance by Gottfried von Straßburg. It was composed between 1857 and 1859 and premiered in Munich on 10 June 1865 with Hans von Bülow conducting...
(1981). Both his performances of Tannhäuser and Jimmy Mahoney were recorded for broadcast on PBS's Great Performances
Great Performances
Great Performances, a television series devoted to the performing arts, has been telecast on Public Broadcasting Service public television since 1972...
, both of which were subsequently released for sale on DVD. He performed the role of Jimmy Mahoney (The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagony) for the Metropolitan Opera Centennial Gala in 1983. His last performance at the Met was on November 23, 1990 as Herod with Hildegard Behrens
Hildegard Behrens
Hildegard Behrens was a German soprano with a wide repertory including Wagner, Weber, Mozart, Richard Strauss, and Alban Berg roles.-Biography:...
in the title role. His 157th performance at that house, it was also his final appearance on the opera stage.
During his years as a mainstay at the Met, Cassilly continued to appear in operas and concerts throughout the world. In 1978 he sang Siegmund at the Palais Garnier
Palais Garnier
The Palais Garnier, , is an elegant 1,979-seat opera house, which was built from 1861 to 1875 for the Paris Opera. It was originally called the Salle des Capucines because of its location on the Boulevard des Capucines in the 9th arrondissement of Paris, but soon became known as the Palais Garnier...
and he returned to the Houston Grand Opera in November of that year to sing Laca Klemeň. In 1979 he returned to the Grand Théâtre de Genève to sing Tannhäuser to Éva Marton
Éva Marton
Éva Marton is a Hungarian dramatic soprano, particularly known for her operatic portrayals of Puccini's Turandot and Tosca, and Wagnerian roles.- Vocal training and early years :...
's Elisabeth. In 1980 he sang Otello with the Frankfurt Opera, the Nationaltheater Mannheim, the Edmundton Opera Company, and the Canadian Opera Company. He also sang Tannhäuser in Genoa
Genoa
Genoa |Ligurian]] Zena ; Latin and, archaically, English Genua) is a city and an important seaport in northern Italy, the capital of the Province of Genoa and of the region of Liguria....
and Geneva. In 1981 he sang Otello in Toronto again and repeated the role with Pittsburgh Opera in 1982. He returned to the Palais Garnier in July 1982 to sing Cannio followed by a portrayal of the mystical shepherd in Karol Szymanowski
Karol Szymanowski
Karol Maciej Szymanowski was a Polish composer and pianist.-Life:Szymanowski was born into a wealthy land-owning Polish gentry family in Tymoszówka, then in the Russian Empire, now in Cherkasy Oblast, Ukraine. He studied music privately with his father before going to Gustav Neuhaus'...
's King Roger
King Roger
King Roger is an opera by the Polish composer Karol Szymanowski set to a libretto by Jarosław Iwaszkiewicz. It was first performed on 19 June 1926 in Warsaw, Poland...
with Wolf Trap Opera in August. In October 1982 he portrayed Samson opposite Fiorenza Cossotto
Fiorenza Cossotto
Fiorenza Cossotto is an Italian mezzo soprano. She is considered by many to be one of the great mezzo-sopranos of the 20th century.-Life and career:...
's Dalila for the 40th Anniversary of New Orleans Opera.
In March 1983 Cassilly sang the role of Luka Kuzmič for the American premiere of Leoš Janáček
Leoš Janácek
Leoš Janáček was a Czech composer, musical theorist, folklorist, publicist and teacher. He was inspired by Moravian and all Slavic folk music to create an original, modern musical style. Until 1895 he devoted himself mainly to folkloristic research and his early musical output was influenced by...
's From the House of the Dead
From the House of the Dead
From the House of the Dead is an opera by Leoš Janáček, in three acts. The libretto was translated and adapted by the composer from the novel by Dostoyevsky...
in a concert with the New York Philharmonic
New York Philharmonic
The New York Philharmonic is a symphony orchestra based in New York City in the United States. It is one of the American orchestras commonly referred to as the "Big Five"...
. The following June he sang Tannhäuser for his first appearance at the Liceu
Liceu
The Gran Teatre del Liceu , or simply Liceu in Catalan and Liceo in Spanish, is an opera house on La Rambla in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain...
and in July repeated that role for his South American debut at the Teatro Municipal in Santiago, Chile
Santiago, Chile
Santiago , also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile, and the center of its largest conurbation . It is located in the country's central valley, at an elevation of above mean sea level...
. In September 1983 he returned to San Diego Opera to sing Peter Grimes with Patricia Craig
Patricia Craig
Patricia Craig is an American operatic soprano and voice teacher.-Operatic career:Born Patricia Duncklee in Long Island, New York, she studied music education at Ithaca College, graduating in 1965. Craig gained her first critical vocal acclaim as a winner of the Metropolitan Opera National Council...
and in October returned to the San Francsico Opera to sing Otello. In March 1986 he sang Jimmy Mahoney for his only appearance with Scottish Opera
Scottish Opera
Scottish Opera is the national opera company of Scotland, and one of the five national performing arts companies funded by the Scottish Government...
and in 1988 he returned to the Lyric Opera of Chicago to sing Tannhäuser.
Legacy
His recordings include The Tenor (with Chester LudginChester Ludgin
-Biography:Chester Ludgin was a native of Brooklyn, New York. He made his professional debut in 1956 with The Experimental Opera Theatre of America , as Baron Scarpia in Giacomo Puccini's Tosca, conducted by Renato Cellini and directed by Armando Agnini...
, 1958), Les troyens (with Eleanor Steber
Eleanor Steber
Eleanor Steber was an American operatic soprano. Steber is noted as one of the first major opera stars to have achieved the highest success with training and a career based in the United States.-Biography:...
and Regina Resnik
Regina Resnik
Regina Resnik is an American operatic singer.Regina Resnik, the American mezzo-soprano, started a dramatic career ten months after earning her B.A. in Music at Hunter College. The role was Lady Macbeth under Fritz Busch in December, 1942 with the New Opera Company. A few months later, she sang...
, 1960), Susannah (with Phyllis Curtin
Phyllis Curtin
Phyllis Curtin is an American classical soprano who had an active career in operas and concerts from the early 1950s through the 1980s. She was known for her creation of new roles such as the title role in the Carlisle Floyd opera Susannah, Catherine Earnshaw in Floyd's Wuthering Heights, and in...
and Treigle, 1962), La forza del destino (excerpts, with Eileen Farrell
Eileen Farrell
Eileen Farrell was an American soprano who had a nearly 60 year long career performing both classical and popular music in concerts, theatres, on radio and television, and on disc. While she was active as an opera singer, her concert engagements far outnumbered her theatrical appearances...
, 1963), The Tender Land (with Joy Clements
Joy Clements
Joy Clements was an American lyric coloratura soprano who had a substantial opera and concert career from 1956 through the late 1970s. She notably sang regularly with both the New York City Opera and the Metropolitan Opera during the 1960s through the early 1970s...
, abridged, conducted by the composer, Aaron Copland
Aaron Copland
Aaron Copland was an American composer, composition teacher, writer, and later in his career a conductor of his own and other American music. He was instrumental in forging a distinctly American style of composition, and is often referred to as "the Dean of American Composers"...
, 1965), Salome (with Dame Gwyneth Jones, conducted by Karl Böhm
Karl Böhm
Karl August Leopold Böhm was an Austrian conductor. He is widely considered to be one of the greatest symphonic and operatic conductors of the 20th century.- Education :...
, 1970), Moses und Aron (conducted by Pierre Boulez
Pierre Boulez
Pierre Boulez is a French composer of contemporary classical music, a pianist, and a conductor.-Early years:Boulez was born in Montbrison, Loire, France. As a child he began piano lessons and demonstrated aptitude in both music and mathematics...
, 1974), Leonore (with Edda Moser
Edda Moser
Edda Moser is a German soprano. She was particularly well-known for her interpretations of music by Mozart. Her 1973 recital LP "Virtuoso Arias by W. A...
, 1976) and Troilus and Cressida (with Dame Janet Baker, 1976). In 2010, his performance of Wozzeck from the Met, with José van Dam and Silja, was published on compact discs. Perhaps more important, his 1979 Mahagonny and 1982 Tannhäuser from the Met, as well as the Fidelio film from Hamburg, have been issued on DVD.
In 1986, Cassilly joined the voice faculty at Boston University
Boston University
Boston University is a private research university located in Boston, Massachusetts. With more than 4,000 faculty members and more than 31,000 students, Boston University is one of the largest private universities in the United States and one of Boston's largest employers...
where he taught until his death twelve years later in Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
on January 30, 1998. Just a few days prior to his death he had fallen on the ice and hit his head. The doctors at the time thought it was a mild concussion but the fall in realilty caused a cerebral hemorrhage which was fatal. At the time of his death he was married to Metropolitan Opera soprano Patricia Craig
Patricia Craig
Patricia Craig is an American operatic soprano and voice teacher.-Operatic career:Born Patricia Duncklee in Long Island, New York, she studied music education at Ithaca College, graduating in 1965. Craig gained her first critical vocal acclaim as a winner of the Metropolitan Opera National Council...
.
External links
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_WiwD-NuCI YouTube: Richard Cassilly in an excerpt from Tannhäuser, with Bernd Weikl and John Macurdy (1982).