Tenor Neil Wilson, dead at 44
Neilfunk2
York after a short battle with kidney cancer (Renal Cell Carcinoma). He was 44
years old and maintained homes in New York and Berlin. He spent 5 seasons with
the Metropolitan Opera where he made his debut as Macduff in "Macbeth" in 1988.
He sang in 2 Saturday afternoon radio broadcasts, as Werther and Rodolfo in "La
boheme," and also sang with the company as Alfredo in "La Traviata" in the
parks.
He first attracted international attention when he sang the title role in a
new production of "Werther" at the Wuerttembergische Staatsoper in Stuttgart in
1985. Reviews from every major operatic publication hailed him as an important
new tenor, resulting in numerous invitations to debut in the world’s great
theaters. Kurt Honolka in "Opera News" described him as a "credible, young,
slim Werther with effortless, brilliant top notes, a baritonal middle range,
not without acting ability - what more can one ask for? This has, at a stroke,
been one of Stuttgart’s finest discoveries."
The role of Werther was quickly to become his calling card; he was heard in
this role in Hamburg, Bologna, Buenos Aires, and Toronto, among others.
Successful debuts followed in quick succession with many of the world’s
major theaters, including the opera houses of Vienna, Munich, Zurich,
Vancouver, Washington D.C., Cologne, Palermo, Bonn, Catania, and Brussels, as
well as with the New Israeli Opera, the Glyndebourne Festival Opera, and the
Salzburg Festival.
In recent years, he was heard with the opera companies of Minnesota, Helsinki,
Düsseldorf, Los Angeles, Palm Beach, San Diego, Leipzig, and Philadelphia.
Harry Kupfer chose him as his leading tenor at the Komische Oper in Berlin in
1990, where he sang over 150 performances and toured internationally as
Hoffmann and Don Jose, which he sang there as recently as this past May.
Earlier this year, Mr. Wilson began to expand his repertoire to include the
Wagnerian Heldentenor roles, beginning with his first Siegmund in "Die
Walkuere" in Budapest in February. In May, he was awarded the Wagner Prize by
the Liederkranz Foundation and sang at a concert under their auspices at Alice
Tully Hall. At the time of his death, Mr. Wilson had contracts through the 2003
season for complete "Ring" Cycles in Meiningen and Budapest, as well as
Florestan in Lucerne and Saarbruecken, Dimitri in Boris Godunov in Kassel and
Edmund in Lear in Innsbruck.
A native of Texas, he began his professional operatic career in 1980 in
Verdi’s "Falstaff" at Wolf Trap. He made his debut in Carnegie Hall in 1984
in Dom Sebastian with Opera Orchestra of New York. A recipient of the Sullivan
Foundation Grant, he was also a winner of the Baltimore International Operatic
Competition, the Gerda Lissner Foundation, and the Rosa Ponselle International
Competition.
Mr. Wilson is survived by his wife, mezzo-soprano Linda Munguia of New York
City, his mother Shirley W. Nease of Abilene, Texas, his sisters Nancy Fisher
and Nora Del Bosque, both of Austin, Texas, and his brothers Noel Nease of
Littleton, Colorado, Nathan Nease of Abilene, Texas and Nelson Nease of Austin,
Texas. Funeral services will take place this weekend in Austin and Abilene,
Texas and his ashes will be buried at the A.W.O.F. Cemetery in Georgetown,
Texas. Funeral Services in New York will be held at St. Peter’s Episcopal
Church at a date to be announced.
Tyrrath
this year and I'm just shocked to hear that he's gone. My condolences to his
family.:(
Ed Rosen
Ed