Paul Plishka obit

Obituary: Legendary Bass Paul Plishka Dies at 83

 

He was not on the list.

Legendary American bass Paul Plishka has died at the age of 83.

Born on August 28, 1941, Plishka was from Old Forge, Pennsylvania, and Paterson, New Jersey and studied at Eastside High School and Montclair State College.

In 1961, Plishka made his operatic debut at the Paterson Lyric Opera. He toured with the Metropolitan Opera National Company from 1965 to 1967. His formal debut on Sept. 21, 1967 as the Monk in “La Gioconda” in 1967. He would become one of the most important artists for the company performing for 50 seasons and appearing in 1,672 performances in 88 roles.

He is number 10 on the company’s official list of most-frequent performers, which dates back to the company’s inception in 1883. Among the roles he performed included Philip II in “Don Carlo,” King Marke in “Tristan und Isolde,” Fiesco in “Simon Boccanegra,” Raimondo in “Lucia di Lammermoor,” Dr. Dulcamara in “L’Elisir d’Amore,” and the title characters of “Boris Godunov” and “Falstaff.” Plishka sang Colline in “La Bohème” in the inaugural Live from the Met telecast in 1977 and holds the company record for singing both Benoit and Alcindoro in a single performance—a pairing that he has performed nearly 150 times since 2001. His final performance with the company came in 2018.

Plishka also performed at many of the great theaters in the world including the Teatro alla Scala, Royal Opera House, Paris Opera, Bayerische Staatsoper, Palm Beach Opera,  San Francisco Opera, Philadelphia Opera, Seattle Opera, Houston Grand Opera, Dallas Opera, and many more.

Plishka’s artistry was recognized in 1992 when he received the Pennsylvania Governor’s Award for Excellence in the Arts and was inducted into the Hall of Fame for Great American Opera Singers.

Throughout his career he made several recordings for Angel, ABC, Columbia, Erato, London, RCA, and Vox Records. Among ther recordings he made included “Tosca” with Leontyne Price, “Anna Bolena” with Beverly Sills, “I Puritani” with Beverly Sills, “Le Cid” with Grace Bumbry and Placido Domingo, “Otello” with Renata Scotto and Placido Domingo, and Verdi’s “La forza del destino” with Mirella Freni and Placido Domingo, among many others.