While in graduate school, our young Unknown Tenor joined the famed Crittenden Opera Studio and performed two French opera scenes during the spring of 1995. These were his first public operatic performances (at least as a tenor). In this scene, the young Chevalier des Grieux first encounters Manon Lescaut, a girl destined for a convent, and instantly falls in love with her. The two make plans for a life together in Paris and run off. Unfortunately, no notes accompanied the cassette tape from which this live track was digitized, and so the names of the soprano and the accompanist are unknown.

While in graduate school, our young Unknown Tenor joined the famed Crittenden Opera Studio and performed two French opera scenes during the spring of 1995. These were his first public operatic performances (at least as a tenor). In this scene, the somewhat foolish Wilhelm Meister becomes intoxicated by the charms of the actress Philine, while his servant/adopted daughter Mignon grumbles to herself in disgust. Unfortunately, no notes accompanied the cassette tape from which this live track was digitized, and so the names of the other singers as well as the accompanist are unknown.

We begin our archival journey of the young Unknown Tenor’s recordings in the early spring of 1996, when he recorded his first audition tape in a tiny recording studio in New York City. He recorded two complete back-to-back takes of “Ah, lève-toi soleil!” from Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette (that’s six high B-flats!) and this was the better of the two. The accompanist was for hire, identity unknown.