Hampson, Thomas
Hampson, Thomas
Hampson, Thomas, admired American baritone; b. Elkhart, Ind., June 28, 1955. He studied at Eastern Washington Univ. (B.A., 1977), Fort Wright Coll. (B.F.A., 1979), the Univ. of Southern Calif., and the Music Academy of the West at Santa Barbara, where he won the Lotte Lehmann award (1978). In 1980 he took 2nd prize at the’s-Hertogenbosch International Vocal Competition, and in 1981 1st place in the Metropolitan Opera Auditions. In 1981 he appeared with the Deutsche Oper am Rhein in Düsseldorf, and in 1982 attracted wide notice as Guglielmo in Così fan tutte with the Opera Theatre of St. Louis. In subsequent seasons, he appeared with opera companies in Santa Fe, Cologne, Lyons, and Zürich. In 1985 he made his N.Y. recital debut. On Oct. 9, 1986, he made his Metropolitan Opera debut in N.Y. as Count Almaviva. During the 1986-87 season, he sang for the first time with the Bavarian State Opera in Munich and the Vienna State Opera. In 1988 he appeared at the Salzburg Festival as Mozart’s Count Almaviva. In 1989 he made his debut at the Berlin Deutsche Oper as Don Giovanni. He appeared for the first time atthe San Francisco Opera as Ulisse in II Ritorno d’Ulisse in 1990. In 1992 he made his Carnegie Hall recital debut in N.Y. In 1993 he made his debut at London’s Covent Garden as Rossini’s Figaro. He created the role of Vicomte de Valmont in Susa’s Dangerous Liaisons in San Francisco in 1994. In 1997 he was engaged as Riccardo in I Puritani at the Metropolitan Opera, portrayed Eugene Onegin at the Vienna State Opera, and sang in Schubert’s Alfonso und Estrella at the Vienna Festival. After singing Guillaume Tell at the Vienna State Opera in 1998, he returned to the Metropolitan Opera as Werther in 1999. He has won particular success for roles in operas by Mozart, Rossini, Donizetti, Verdi, and Puccini. As a concert artist, Hampson has appeared as a soloist with orchs. and as a recitalist in principal music centers of the world. His concert repertoire embraces works from Bach to Cole Porter and beyond.
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire