Operatic Bass Paul Plishka has Died, Aged 83

The American bass sang 1,672 performances at the Met over the course of his 51-year career there

The operatic bass Paul Plishka, who sang nearly 1,700 performances with The Metropolitan Opera and was dubbed its "Master of the House", has passed away at the age of 83.

Born in a former coal-mining community in Pennsylvania in 1941, and the descendant of Ukrainian grandparents, Plishka studied singing with Armen Boyajian and joined the Paterson Lyric Opera Theater at a young age, before progressing to tertiary voice studies at Montclair State University.

When he was 26, Plishka auditioned for Rudolph Bing at the Met, and was initially offered buffo roles only — but insisted that he would only take the contract if he was occasionally afforded some dramatic roles as well. He made his Met debut as the Monk in Ponchielli’s La Gioconda in 1967.

Over the course of a 51-year career at the company, Plishka sang in 1,672 performances of 88 different roles, including those of 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.

He worked his way up the ranks of the company gradually, beginning with smaller roles and blossoming into stardom in the middle of his career. Part of this stemmed from his reluctance to take on larger roles before his voice had adequately matured — and he waited until 1983 before agreeing to sing his first performance in the title role of Boris Godunov.

In the history of the company, only eight performers have appeared more times than Plishka.

Our condolences to his family, friends, and colleagues.

"He was a beloved character at the Met," said Peter Gelb, the company's general manager. "He is one of the major artists in the Met’s history, I would say, and with an interesting arc to his career. To sort of toil in medium-size roles and small roles for years and then suddenly become a major starring presence, I can’t think of any other singer who had a career arc like that."

PC: Winnie Klotz