William Walker (baritone)

William Sterling Walker (born 1931 in Waco, Texas) is a former baritone with the Metropolitan Opera (1962-1980) whose singing career included performances at the White House, at Carnegie Hall and other concert venues across North America and Europe, and some 60 appearances on "The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson". From 1991-2002, he produced opera as General Director of Fort Worth Opera in Fort Worth, Texas.

Early life

William Walker was born in Waco, Texas to parents who had moved to the city to escape rural hard times in Depression-era Bosque County. Walker came to Fort Worth at the age of 6, where his father eventually went to work for Consolidated Vultee, a predecessor of General Dynamics. Known as "Bill" to his family and friends, Walker began singing professionally at the age of 12 but secretly yearned to play baseball. After watching him strike out four times one night at a high school game, Walker's father suggested that perhaps his son should think more seriously about being a singer. ["William Walker: Director of the Fort Worth Opera" Sheila Taylor Wells, "Fort Worth Star-Telegram," 3/10/94, Life section, p. 1, accessed 9/17/2007] In 1949, upon graduation from Arlington Heights High School, Walker was awarded a vocal scholarship to Texas Christian University. ["A New Voice: William Walker Aims Opera in Different Direction," Wayne Lee Gay, Fort Worth Star Telegram, 12/16/91, Life section, p.1, accessed 8/27/2007] However, his studies were interrupted when he was drafted into the U.S. Army and sent to serve in the Korean War. During his time in Korea, he was awarded the Bronze Star for meritorious service. Upon his honorable discharge, Walker returned to Fort Worth, completed his bachelor's in voice and graduated from Texas Christian University in 1956. In 1957, he married the former Marci Martin and they moved to New York City. [ "A New Voice: William Walker Aims Opera in Different Direction," Wayne Lee Gay, Fort Worth Star Telegram, 12/16/91, Life section, p.1, 8/27/2007]

Singing career

In 1960, Walker made his Broadway debut as Tattoo in "Wildcat", a musical comedy by N. Richard Nash, Cy Coleman and Carolyn Leigh, starring Lucille Ball, directed by Herbert Ross and choreographed by Michael Kidd. He was listed in the program as "Bill Walker". [ [http://www.ibdb.com/person.asp?ID=392141 Internet Broadway Database: Bill Walker Credits on Broadway ] ] A frequent performer in summer stock during the 1960s, Walker sang many performances with the St. Louis Municipal Opera, [ [http://www.muny.org/castalumni_W.html The Muny ] ] the Kansas City Starlight Theatre and the Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera in such works as "Blossom Time," "Desert Song," "Damn Yankees" and "Carousel"

In 1962, Walker placed in the National Auditions for the Metropolitan Opera and was offered a contract to join the company. ["A New Voice: William Walker Aims Opera in Different Direction," Wayne Lee Gay, "Fort Worth Star-Telegram," 12/16/91, Life section, p.1, accessed 8/27/2007] His first roles at the Met were small ones, but subsequent exposure on television shows such as "The Bell Telephone Hour", "The Voice of Firestone", and most notably "The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson" -- where Walker appeared some 60 times – led to a higher profile in his opera career. ["A New Voice: William Walker Aims Opera in Different Direction," Wayne Lee Gay, Fort Worth Star Telegram, 12/16/91, Life section, p.1, accessed 8/27/2007] During his 18 seasons there, Walker gave more than 360 performances at the Met and sang the role of Marcello in "La boheme" more than 30 times. [ [http://66.187.153.86/archives/frame.htm Metropolitan Opera Association ] ]

In 1965, Walker was featured in two new productions at the Met. He was selected to sing the role of Valentin in "Faust" co-starring Nicolai Gedda, Gabriella Tucci and Cesare Siepi, directed by Jean-Louis Barrault and conducted by Georges Pretre. He also sang the role of Prince Yeletsky in a new English-language production of Tchaikovsky's "The Queen of Spades", conducted by Thomas Schippers. In 1972, Walker repeated the role in the first production of "The Queen of Spades" ever presented in its original Russian at the Met. [ [http://66.187.153.86/archives/frame.htm Metropolitan Opera Association ] ]

In 1975 when the Met toured Japan for the first time, Walker sang the role of Marcello in "La boheme" with Franco Corelli and Dorothy Kirsten. [ [http://66.187.153.86/archives/frame.htm Metropolitan Opera Association ] ] The following season, Walker stepped in for an ailing colleague and sang the role of Germont in "La traviata" for the first time at the Met, a role he had already sung at the Santa Fe Opera and in other regional productions. Critic Harold Schonberg wrote in "The New York Times," "the best singing of the night came from Mr. Walker," [ [http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F10B14FE355C107B93C6A8178AD85F428785F9 The Opera; 'La Traviata' Is Led by Miss Caldwell - Free Preview - The New York Times ] ] and "Time" magazine called his Germont "splendidly sung." [ [http://www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,913954,00.html# An Elegant Debut - Printout - TIME ] ]

Other roles at the Met included Figaro in "The Barber of Seville", Papageno in "The Magic Flute", Lescaut in "Manon Lescaut", Sharpless in "Madama Butterfly", Ford in "Falstaff", Escamillo in "Carmen", the High Priest in "Samson et Dalila", Peter in "Hansel und Gretel", Schaunard in "La boheme", Count Di Luna in "Il trovatore", The Herald in "Lohengrin", Michele in "Il tabarro", Silvio in "Pagliacci", Dr. Malatesta in "Don Pasquale", and Enrico in "Lucia di Lammermoor" [ [http://66.187.153.86/archives/frame.htm Metropolitan Opera Association ] ]

Walker's career included performances at the White House: during the Johnson administration in 1967, he was principal entertainer at the White House Correspondents' Dinner. During the Carter administration, he sang at a White House state dinner honoring Helmut Schmidt, Chancellor of West Germany. In 1976, under the auspices of the U.S. State department, Walker was sent abroad to perform as a representative of the United States. In addition to recitals in Reykjavik, Iceland and at the Royal Swedish Opera in Stockholm, Walker sang Germont in "La traviata" and Amonasro in "Aida" in both Warsaw and Lodz, Poland.

From 1969 to 1976, Walker gave more than 250 solo recitals in the United States and Canada, performing classical operatic arias, art songs and American musical show stoppers, most memorably "Soliloquy" from "Carousel" and "Surrey With The Fringe On Top" from "Oklahoma!". With a technique considered innovative at the time, Walker addressed his recital audiences directly from the stage, interspersing his songs with funny, often self-deprecating stories, making him a more accessible performer to his audiences then the stereotypically aloof classical artist.

Walker was a frequent soloist with many great American orchestras, including the Cleveland Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic, and the Philadelphia Orchestra. In the '70s, Walker appeared twice at Carnegie Hall as the baritone soloist in performances of Gustav Mahler's 8th Symphony with the Chicago Symphony, conducted by Sir Georg Solti.

Walker retired from singing in 1982. ["A New Voice: William Walker Aims Opera in Different Direction," Wayne Lee Gay, "Fort Worth Star-Telegram," 12/16/91, Life section, p.1, accessed 8/27/2007] In 1980, Walker was named the Hearndon Distinguished Visiting Professor of Music at Texas Christian University and taught master classes in performance for several years. He also taught master classes as the Carol Kyle Distinguished Visiting Professor of Music at Lamar University in Beaumont, Texas from 1980 to 1984.

General Director, Fort Worth Opera

In 1991, Walker returned to his hometown of Fort Worth, Texas to accept the position of General Director of the Fort Worth Opera, a small regional company "with a low budget, low profile and low community confidence." ["Singing a happy tune: William Walker aims to bolster reputation of Fort Worth Opera," Wayne Lee Gay, "Fort Worth Star-Telegram," 11/19/1992, A&E section, page 1, accessed 8/29/07]

Even when he was still at the Met and working with world-class stage directors and designers, Walker believed that great singing was what made great opera. " 'That's what opera's all about, you know: let the opera singer sing and opera will flourish.'" ["New In Seville," Florence Stevenson, "Opera News," March 2, 1974, p. 19] When he began to produce opera in Fort Worth, Walker capitalized on this philosophy of "a singer's opera" by recognizing the opportunity for Fort Worth Opera to be a showcase for up-and-coming vocal talent.

Focusing mostly on the standard Italian and French repertory, Walker led the company through "seven seasons of rising artistry and record audiences," ["Opera Director to Retire at Season's End," Wayne Lee Gay, "Fort Worth Star-Telegram," 9/19/98, News section, p.1, accessed 9/16/2007] ultimately increasing season subscriptions, wiping out deficits, and bolstering the company's annual budget and its endowment to what were then record levels. During Walker's tenure, Fort Worth Opera joined other major Fort Worth performing arts organizations (Fort Worth Symphony, Texas Ballet Theater, the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition and Cliburn Concerts series) when they moved into their permanent home at Bass Performance Hall. [ [http://www.basshall.com/thehallhistory.jsp Bass Performance Hall: History of the Hall ] ] Tickets for the 1998-1999 inaugural season of Fort Worth Opera at Bass Performance Hall were sold out. ["Opera Director to Retire at Season's End," Wayne Lee Gay, "Fort Worth Star-Telegram," 9/19/98, News section, p.1, accessed 9/16/2007]

In 1998, despite the successes achieved under Walker's tenure, the executive committee of the larger Fort Worth Opera board of directors attempted to force Walker to retire, but their decision was overridden by a vote of the full board. " 'I'm the happiest man in America,' " Walker said at the time. " 'This is the job I prepared for my whole life. I can't wait to get started again.' " ["Opera reverses decision on director", Wayne Lee Gay, "Fort Worth Star-Telegram," 9/25/98, Metro section, p.1, accessed 9/16/2007] Walker's contract was extended until 2002, when he retired and was named Executive Director Emeritus by the Fort Worth Opera board of directors. ["Walker says he'll retire from Fort Worth Opera in 2002", Wayne Lee Gay, "Fort Worth Star-Telegram," 12/29/00, Metro section, p. 1, accessed 9/16/2007]

Recordings

Commercially available audio and video recordings of Walker are rare.

Audio

* "Cole Porter: A Remembrance" RCA/NBC, rare recording from a "Today Show" broadcast in 1964
* "The Naked Carmen" Mercury SRM 1-604, 1970
* "Wildcat" Original Broadway Cast Soundtrack, RCA Victor LOC-1060, 1961

Video

* "The Voice of Firestone: A Firestone French Opera Gala" (as Mercutio in "Romeo et Juliette", telecast of February 10, 1963) ISBN 1-56195-054-8, New England Conservatory of Music/Video Artists International. Inc.
* "The Bell Telephone Hour" shows on file at the Paley Center for Media (formerly the Museum of Television and Radio) in New York. New York

Other recordings and career memorabilia are on deposit in the William Walker Collection at the library at Texas Christian University, Fort Worth, Texas.

Personal life

In 2007, Walker and his wife, Marci, celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary. They have four children and two grandchildren.

References

External links

* [http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/frame.htm The MetOpera Database]