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William
Fleck
Basso
William Fleck
has emerged as an important singing actor, having performed more
than 110 operatic roles. He joined the Metropolitan Opera
roster in 1979, where his roles ranged from Alaska Wolf Joe
in Mahagonny, to the Sacristan in Tosca. He was also featured on numerous broadcasts and
telecasts of “Live from the Met.”
The
basso has had particular success with the great roles of the buffo
repertoire, such as Dr. Bartolo in
Il Barbiere di Siviglia
and Le Nozze di Figaro,
Dr. Dulcamara in L’Lelisir d’Amore,,
Don Pasquale,
Leporello in Don Giovanni,
and Rocco in Fidelio. His interpretation of Baron
Ochs in Der
Rosenkavalier is considered to be definitive.
At home in a wide range of repertoire and styles, Mr. Fleck has
enjoyed particular success in such modern works as Menotti’s The
Last Savage, which was directed by the composer, Kurt
Weill’s Street Scene,
Robert Ward’s The Crucible
and Carlisle Floyd’s Susannah, in which his portrayal of Olin Blitch won him national critical acclaim.
He
has appeared worldwide in companies throughout Canada, Mexico,
and Australia. In the United States, he has sung with the
opera companies of San Francisco, Dallas, Cleveland, Cincinnati,
Hawaii, Pittsburgh, Baltimore, Indianapolis, and many others.
A
product of the Eastman School of Music, he was closely associated
for many years with the famed Chautauqua Opera Company and Sarah
Caldwell’s Opera Company of Boston.
In
March and April of 1996, Mr. Fleck re-created his famed Baron
Ochs in Der
Rosenkavalier with the New York City Opera under the
direction of Jonathan Miller. In 1997, he did the role of
Sulpice in The
Daughter of the Regiment
with the New York City Opera National Company.
After that, he sang Daland in
Der Fliegende Holländer
with the Indianapolis Opera. In April 1999, he
garnered rave reviews for his performance as Baron Ochs in the Nashville Opera production of Der
Rosenkavalier.
The
1999-2000 season also included engagements with the New York City
Opera in their productions of Madama Butterfly and Die Zauberflöte. Mr.
Fleck then covered the role of Baron Ochs in the
Metropolitan Opera’s production of Der Rosenkavalier. Immediately following that, he sang the role
of Dr. Bartolo in the New York City Opera National Company’s production
of Il Barbiere di Siviglia. He also created the role of King
Carlo in the World Premiere
of Louis Gioia’s Un Racconto Fiorentino, presented at Alice Tully Hall.
Recent
engagements have included Dr. Bartolo in Le Nozze di Figaro with the Tampa Bay Performing Arts
Center, Frank in Die Fledermaus with the Mississippi Opera, Dansker in
Billy Budd with
the Canadian Opera, Rocco in
Fidelio, and
Dr. Dulcamara in
L’Elisir d’Amore with
the Bel Canto Festival in Portland, Oregon, and Pooh-bah
in The Mikado with the Virginia Opera, and Benoit in La Boheme with the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra,
under the direction of George Manahan, and Dr. Bartolo
in Il Barbiere di Siviglia with
Opera Roanoke in October 2003, and in the spring of 2004, Dr
Dulcamara in L'Elisir d'amore with the Nevada
Opera, where he will be returning for Don Magnifico in
La Cenerentola.
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