Sherrill Milnes was born on January 10, 1935. He is an American dramatic baritone known for performing Verdi's operas. From 1965 to 1997, he was connected with the Metropolitan Opera. His voice is a high dramatic baritone that combines smooth singing with clear and precise rhythm.

In 1965, when he was 30 years old, Milnes made his first performance at the Metropolitan Opera. Soon after, he performed in other countries. During the 1970s and 1980s, he became one of the most well-known Verdi baritones in the world.

Early life

Milnes was born in Downers Grove, Illinois. His parents were dairy farmers. As a child, he showed many different musical talents. He could sing, and he also played piano, violin, viola, double bass, clarinet, and tuba. Even though he did not always like opera, he often sang to his father's cows. Once, he was seen on a tractor practicing an operatic laugh.

In high school, Milnes planned to become an anesthesiologist. Later, he returned to music and studied music education at Drake University and Northwestern University, with the goal of becoming a teacher. He first attended North Central College before moving to Drake University and Northwestern University.

From 1958 to 1963, he was part of the Chicago Symphony Chorus, led by Margaret Hillis. He performed several times under the direction of Fritz Reiner, the sixth music director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. After graduating from Drake University, he spent a summer as an apprentice at the Santa Fe Opera. Then, he focused on becoming an opera singer and briefly studied with the famous soprano Rosa Ponselle.

In 2006, Milnes received an honorary doctorate from North Central College.

Career

Milnes began his career with the Opera Company of Boston in 1960, joining Boris Goldovsky's Opera Theater, and made his first appearance as Masetto in Don Giovanni. From the start of his career, Milnes was managed by well-known talent manager Herbert Barrett. In 1961, he made his first appearance at Ponselle's Baltimore Opera as Gérard in Andrea Chénier.

In 1964, Milnes made his first major breakthrough by singing the role of Valentin in Gounod's Faust at the New York City Opera (opposite Norman Treigle as Méphistophélès). He also performed this role when he made his debut at the Metropolitan Opera in 1965. In 1967, he created the role of Captain Adam Brant in the world premiere of Marvin David Levy's Mourning Becomes Electra at the Met.

In 1964, Milnes also made his first appearance in Europe, singing Figaro from The Barber of Seville at the Teatro Nuovo in Milan. However, his performance as Miller in Verdi's Luisa Miller in 1968 helped him become famous worldwide. Milnes was the leading baritone at the Met during the 1970s, performing to great acclaim, especially in Verdi operas.

Beginning in 1982, Milnes experienced sudden serious problems with his voice, which took time to overcome. In 1984, he sang in the world premiere of Act I of Sergei Rachmaninoff's opera Monna Vanna, which had been left in piano score by the composer and orchestrated by Igor Buketoff.

Milnes' talents were not limited to the stage. As early as 1971, he received critical praise for performing the role of David in the premiere of Ezra Laderman's opera And David Wept, which aired on the CBS Television network under the musical direction of Alfredo Antonini. Nearly a decade earlier in 1964, he also worked with Antonini, playing the role of Saint Joseph in a televised version of Hector Berlioz's sacred oratorio L'enfance du Christ.

Milnes was awarded the Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia fraternity's Charles E. Lutton Man of Music Award at its 1982 national convention in Urbana, Illinois. He had joined the fraternity's Alpha Beta chapter at Drake University in 1954. In the same year, he was honored by the Italian government as "Commendatore Ordine al Merito della Repubblica."

On July 5, 1986, he performed on the New York Philharmonic's tribute to the 100th anniversary of the Statue of Liberty, which was televised live by ABC. The orchestra, conducted by Zubin Mehta, performed in Central Park.

In September 1996, Milnes was honored by the French government with the distinguished Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. After 32 years and 653 performances, he made his final appearance at the Metropolitan Opera on March 22, 1997, as Amonasro in Aida.

In 1998, Milnes published a memoir titled American Aria.

Milnes is currently a professor emeritus in voice at Northwestern University. He is a recipient of Yale University's Sanford Medal.

Milnes was inducted as a Laureate of The Lincoln Academy of Illinois and awarded the Order of Lincoln (the State’s highest honor) by the Governor of Illinois in 2003 in the area of The Performing Arts.

Milnes has been a resident of Cresskill, New Jersey, and currently lives in Palm Harbor, Florida, with his wife and son, Theo.

VOICExperience Foundation

In 2001, Milnes and his wife, soprano Maria Zouves, created the VOICExperience Foundation. This nonprofit organization helps teach young singers. It began with master classes taught by Milnes, Tony Randall, Martina Arroyo, and Barry Tucker, who is the president of the Richard Tucker Music Foundation. The foundation is based in Florida and offers many programs, including educational classes, workshops, community events, and activities that help improve the community. In Florida, the foundation runs The Florida VOICE Project, which helps singers in the Tampa Bay Area. In New York City, the foundation runs the Opera As Drama program. This program lasts one week and helps new professional opera singers develop their careers. It ends with a public performance at Opera America’s National Opera Center. As part of the Savannah Voice Festival, the foundation also runs a Teen VOICE workshop and the Milnes VOICE studio.

Discography

• Mozart: Così fan tutte (featuring L. Price, Troyanos, Raskin, Shirley, Flagello – Leinsdorf, conductor)
• Verdi: La traviata (featuring Caballé, Bergonzi – Prêtre, conductor)

• R. Strauss: Salome (featuring Caballé, R. Lewis, Resnik, J. King – Leinsdorf, conductor)

• Beethoven: Symphony No. 9, "Choral" (featuring J. Marsh, Veasey, Domingo – Leinsdorf, conductor)
• Orff: Carmina Burana (featuring Mandac, Kolk – Ozawa, conductor)
• Verdi: Il trovatore (featuring L. Price, Domingo, Cossotto – Mehta, conductor)

• Verdi: Aïda (featuring L. Price, Domingo, Bumbry, Raimondi – Leinsdorf, conductor)
• Verdi: Macbeth (featuring Ludwig, Cossutta – Böhm, conductor) Live performance

• Verdi: Un ballo in maschera (featuring Tebaldi, Pavarotti – Bartoletti, conductor)
• Puccini: Il tabarro (featuring L. Price, Domingo – Leinsdorf, conductor)
• Verdi: Don Carlo (featuring Domingo, Caballé, Raimondi, Verrett – Giulini, conductor)
• Donizetti: Lucia di Lammermoor (featuring Sutherland, Pavarotti, Ghiaurov – Bonynge, conductor)
• Leoncavallo: Pagliacci (featuring Domingo, Caballé, Goeke – Santi, conductor)
• Verdi: Rigoletto (featuring Sutherland, Pavarotti, Tourangeau, Talvela – Bonynge, conductor)

• Verdi: Attila (featuring Raimondi, Deutekom, Bergonzi – Gardelli, conductor)
• Verdi: Giovanna d'Arco (featuring Caballé, Domingo – Levine, conductor)

• Puccini: Tosca (featuring L. Price, Domingo – Mehta, conductor)

• Puccini: La bohème (featuring Caballé, Domingo, Blegen, Sardinero, Raimondi – Solti, conductor)
• Verdi: I vespri siciliani (featuring Arroyo, Domingo, Raimondi – Levine, conductor)

• Rossini: Il barbiere di Siviglia (featuring Sills, Gedda, Capecchi, Raimondi, Barbieri – Levine, conductor)
• Verdi: Luisa Miller (featuring Pavarotti, Caballé – Maag, conductor)
• Massenet: La Navarraise (featuring Horne, Domingo, Bacquier – H. Lewis, conductor)
• Verdi: Il trovatore [with bonus tracks from a 1968 recording of Act II with Richard Tucker] (featuring Caballé, Cossutta, Arkhipova – Guadagno, conductor)

• Giordano: Andrea Chénier (featuring Scotto, Domingo – Levine, conductor)
• Verdi: Macbeth (featuring Cossotto, Carreras, Raimondi – Muti, conductor)
• Massenet: Thaïs (featuring Sills, Gedda, van Allan – Maazel, conductor)

• Cilea: Adriana Lecouvreur (featuring Scotto, Domingo, Obraztsova – Levine, conductor)
• Bizet: Carmen (featuring Berganza, Domingo, Cotrubas – C. Abbado, conductor)
• Puccini: La fanciulla del West (featuring Neblett, Domingo – Mehta, conductor)
• Verdi: La forza del destino (featuring L. Price, Domingo, Cossotto, Giaiotti, Bacquier – Levine, conductor)
• Verdi: La traviata (featuring Cotrubas, Domingo – Kleiber, conductor)
• Walton: Belshazzar's Feast (Gibson, conductor)

• Rossini: Guglielmo Tell (featuring Freni, Pavarotti, Mazzoli, Jones, Ghiaurov – Chailly, conductor)
• Verdi: Otello (featuring Domingo, Scotto – Levine, conductor)
• Verdi: Rigoletto (featuring Sills, Kraus, M. Dunn, Ramey – Rudel, conductor)
• Puccini: Tosca (featuring Freni, Pavarotti – Rescigno, conductor)

• Puccini: La bohème (featuring Scotto, Neblett, Kraus, Manuguerra, Plishka, Tajo; Levine, conductor)

• Massenet: Le roi de Lahore (featuring Sutherland, Lima, Ghiaurov, Morris, Tourangeau – Bonynge, conductor)

• Ponchielli: La Gioconda (featuring Caballé, Baltsa, Pavarotti, Ghiaurov – Bartoletti, conductor)

• Thomas: Hamlet (featuring Sutherland, Morris, Conrad, Winbergh, Lewis, Gelling; Bonynge, conductor)

• Ponchielli: La Gioconda (featuring Marton, Ramey, Lamberti – Patanè, conductor)

• Fauré: Requiem (featuring Te Kanawa – Dutoit, conductor)

• Wolf-Ferrari: Sly (featuring Carreras, Kabatu – Gimenez, conductor)

• Sherrill Milnes in Recital, Volume 1, "There but for You Go I" (Jon Spong, piano)
• Sherrill Milnes in Recital, Volume 2, "Kingdom by the Sea" (Jon Spong, piano)
• Met Legends: Sherrill Milnes
• Grandi Voci: Arias (de la Fuente, conductor)
• The Baritone Voice