Harry Theyard


Harry Theyard is an American operatic tenor.
Theyard is a 1957 graduate of Loyola University of the South, where he studied under Dorothy Hulse, who was also the teacher of Audrey Schuh and Charles Anthony. He began his career with the New Orleans Opera Association in secondary parts, including appearances in Salome, Le nozze di Figaro, Il trovatore and The Beggar's Opera. Later, in New York, he studied under Armen Boyajian, also the pedagogue of Marisa Galvany, Paul Plishka, and Samuel Ramey.

New York City Opera

The spinto tenor debuted with the New York City Opera in 1959, in The Devil and Daniel Webster, directed by John Houseman. He went on to sing in the world premieres of Ward's The Crucible, Floyd's The Passion of Jonathan Wade, and Menotti's The Most Important Man. By 1970, Theyard was one of the City Opera's leading tenors, appearing in Madama Butterfly, Mefistofele, Louise, The Makropoulos Case, Carmen, Susannah, Tosca, Cavalleria rusticana, Les contes d'Hoffmann, Turandot and La fanciulla del West.

Metropolitan Opera

In 1966, he first appeared with the Metropolitan Opera National Company, in La traviata and La bohème. In 1970 he portrayed Curly in the world premiere of Carlisle Floyd's Of Mice and Men at the Seattle Opera. In 1973, Theyard sang in Manon Lescaut at the Spoleto Festival, with Nancy Shade directed by Luchino Visconti and conducted by Thomas Schippers. In 1974, he debuted at the actual Met for an impressive string of operas: Les contes d'Hoffmann, Manon Lescaut, Madama Butterfly, Cavalleria rusticana, Grigori in Boris Godunov, La forza del destino, L'assedio di Corinto and Il tabarro. From 1976, he returned to his native city for starring roles in Manon Lescaut, Lucia di Lammermoor, Andrea Chénier, La bohème and Carmen.

Broadway

Mr Theyard also appeared on Broadway, in the original productions of Man of La Mancha and A Time for Singing. The latter was a musical version of How Green Was My Valley, and was not a success; Man of La Mancha, on the other hand, was an enormous hit and has become a musical-comedy classic. In it, Mr Theyard introduced the song "Little Bird, Little Bird."
In 1975, he appeared on television in the CBS Christmas special, "A Handful of Souls."

Operatic discography