Editing Jon Vickers (section)

==Career==
Vickers studied with [[George Lambert (baritone)|George Lambert]] at [[The Royal Conservatory of Music]]<ref name="Bayreuth">[http://www.bayreuther-festspiele.de/fsdb_en/personen/384/index.htm Jon Vickers] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150714160818/http://www.bayreuther-festspiele.de/fsdb_en/personen/384/index.htm |date=July 14, 2015 }} (in German) Bayreuth Festival. Retrieved July 14, 2015</ref> and sang professionally in Canada from the early- to mid-1950s. In 1952 he won the ''[[Nos futures étoiles]]'' competition on [[CBC Radio]].<ref>{{cite journal|url=https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/nos-futures-etoiles-emc|title=Nos futures étoiles|author=Suzanne Thomas|work=[[The Canadian Encyclopedia]]|date=December 15, 2013}}</ref> His international career began with his 1957 [[Royal Opera House|Covent Garden]] Riccardo in [[Giuseppe Verdi|Verdi]]'s ''[[Un ballo in maschera]]''. He continued to appear there into the 1980s, putting his personal stamp on the roles of Énée in [[Hector Berlioz|Berlioz]]'s ''[[Les Troyens]]'', Radamès in Verdi's ''[[Aida]]'' and the title role in his ''[[Don Carlos]]'', [[George Frideric Handel|Handel]]'s ''[[Samson (Handel)|Samson]]'', Florestan in [[Ludwig van Beethoven|Beethoven]]'s ''[[Fidelio]]'', Tristan in [[Richard Wagner|Wagner]]'s ''[[Tristan und Isolde]]'', Canio in [[Ruggero Leoncavallo|Leoncavallo]]'s ''[[Pagliacci]]'', and the title role in [[Benjamin Britten|Britten]]'s ''[[Peter Grimes]]''.<ref name="roh">{{cite web|url=http://www.roh.org.uk/news/canadian-born-tenor-jon-vickers-dies|publisher=Royal Opera House|title=Canadian-born tenor Jon Vickers dies|date=July 11, 2015|access-date=July 14, 2015}}</ref> Some critics praised Vickers' Tristan as the best since [[Lauritz Melchior]]'s.<ref>''Classical Music: The Listener's Companion'' (2002), ed. Alexander J. Morin, pp. 1038</ref>

He debuted at the [[Bayreuth Festival]] in 1958 as [[Sigmund|Siegmund]] in ''[[Die Walküre]]'' and sang ''[[Parsifal]]'' there in 1964.<ref name="Bayreuth" /> Later negotiations with [[Wieland Wagner]] concerning appearances as Siegfried in ''[[Götterdämmerung]]'' ceased on Wieland's death in 1966. His debut role at the [[Metropolitan Opera]] in 1960 was Canio in ''Pagliacci''.<ref name="MET">{{cite web|url=http://www.metopera.org/News-Flash1/News-Flash/Remembering-Jon-Vickers-19262015/|title=Remembering Jon Vickers 1926–2015|publisher=Metropolitan Opera|access-date=July 14, 2015}}</ref> He appeared at the Met for a period of 27 years in 280 performances of 17 roles, including Florestan in ''Fidelio'', Siegmund in [[Richard Wagner|Wagner]]'s ''[[Die Walküre]]'', Don Jose in [[Georges Bizet|Bizet]]'s ''[[Carmen]]'', Radamès in ''Aida'', Erik in Wagner's ''[[Der fliegende Holländer]]'', Herman in [[Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky|Tchaikovsky]]'s ''[[The Queen of Spades (opera)|Queen of Spades]]'', Samson in both Handel's oratorio and [[Camille Saint-Saëns|Saint-Saëns]]' ''[[Samson et Dalila]]'', the title role of [[Giuseppe Verdi|Verdi]]'s ''[[Otello]]'', Don Alvaro in Verdi's ''[[La forza del destino]]'', ''Peter Grimes'', ''[[Tristan und Isolde]]'', Laca in [[Leoš Janáček|Janáček]]'s ''[[Jenůfa]]'', Vasek in [[Bedřich Smetana|Smetana]]'s ''[[The Bartered Bride]]'', and the title role in Wagner's ''[[Parsifal]]'', giving his farewell in 1987.<ref name="MET" />

Among Vickers' more notable recordings were ''Die Walküre'' in 1966 and ''Tristan und Isolde'' in 1972, both with [[Herbert von Karajan]] (Vickers became one of Karajan's favourite singers at the lavish Salzburg Easter and Summer Festivals in ''[[Der Ring des Nibelungen]]'', ''[[Carmen]]'', ''[[Otello]]'', ''[[Fidelio]]'' as well as ''[[Tristan und Isolde]]''), ''[[Les Troyens]]'', singing the part of Énée (Aeneas), with [[Colin Davis|Sir Colin Davis]] in 1969,<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.lemonde.fr/musiques/article/2015/07/13/mort-du-tenor-jon-vickers-interprete-inoubliable-d-enee-et-d-otello_4681144_1654986.html|title=Mort du ténor Jon Vickers, interprète inoubliable d'Enée et d'Otello|work=Le Monde|date=July 13, 2015|access-date=July 14, 2015|language=fr}}</ref><ref name="hero">''Jon Vickers: A Hero's Life'' (1999) by Jeannie Williams and [[Birgit Nilsson]]</ref><ref name="presto">{{cite news|url=http://www.prestoclassical.co.uk/obituary/1326/Jon-Vickers|title=Obituary – Jon Vickers|date=July 13, 2015|access-date=July 14, 2015|first=Katherine|last=Cooper|agency=Presto Classical}}</ref> and a legendary and controversial 1959 recording of Handel's ''[[Messiah (Handel)|Messiah]]'' with Sir [[Thomas Beecham]].<ref name="presto"/><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.classical.net/~music/recs/reviews/a/arc23631a.php|publisher=Classical Net|title=Messiah|access-date=July 14, 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2015/jul/12/jon-vickers|title=Jon Vickers obituary|date=July 12, 2015|access-date=July 14, 2015|work=The Guardian}}</ref>

Although scheduled to sing [[Tannhäuser (opera)|Tannhäuser]] at Covent Garden in the late 1970s, Vickers dropped out, claiming he could not empathize with the character,<ref>{{cite news|url=http://tpr.org/post/farewell-canadian-born-tenor-jon-vickers|title=Farewell to Canadian-born Tenor Jon Vickers|first=John|last=Baker|agency=Texas Public Radio|access-date=July 14, 2014|date=July 13, 2015}}</ref> and that the opera itself was blasphemous in nature.<ref name="roh"/><ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.broadstreetreview.com/dance/tannhaeuser_blasphemy_or_piety|title=Tannhäuser': Blasphemy or piety|date=January 1, 2011|access-date=July 14, 2015|first=Steve|last=Cohen|agency=Broad Street Review}}</ref> He sang Nerone in Monteverdi's ''[[L'incoronazione di Poppea]]'' at the Paris Opéra, and Alvaro in ''La forza del destino'' at the Met (1975). His roles also included Don Carlos, Andrea Chenier, Herod in ''[[Salome (opera)|Salome]]'', Giasone in ''[[Médée (Cherubini)|Medea]]'' (with [[Maria Callas]] in the title role), Pollione in ''[[Norma (opera)|Norma]]''<ref name="presto"/> and rarely heard parts such as Cellini in Berlioz's ''[[Benvenuto Cellini (opera)|Benvenuto Cellini]]'',<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1983/05/10/arts/music-berlioz-s-cellini.html|title=MUSIC: BERLIOZ'S 'CELLINI'|first=Donal|last=Henahan|date=May 10, 1983|access-date=July 14, 2015|work=The New York Times}}</ref> Ratan-Sen in [[Albert Roussel|Roussel's]] ''Padmavati'' and Sergei in [[Dmitri Shostakovich|Shostakovitch]]'s ''[[Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District (opera)|Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District]]''.<ref name="hero"/> Many critics praised his interpretation of Verdi's ''[[Otello]]'',<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://chicagoclassicalreview.com/2009/08/vickers-moor-revisited-and-domingos-otello-farewell/|title=Chicago Classical Review » » Vickers' Moor revisited and Domingo's "Otello" farewell|accessdate=August 29, 2021}}</ref> which he recorded twice: in 1960 with [[Tullio Serafin]] and 1973 with Herbert von Karajan. Vickers also was a long time collaborator with American pianist [[Richard Woitach]].<ref>{{Citation |last= Crory |first= Neil |date= June 30, 2001|title= New York |work=[[Opera Canada]] |page= 34|volume=42|issue=1|url= http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Opera+in+review%3A+(Canada,+United+States+and+International).-a030069990|access-date= September 9, 2013}}</ref><ref>{{Citation |last= Winters |first= Ken |date= April 16, 2005|title= Classical: Recital will long shine in the memory |work=[[The Globe and Mail]] |page= R6|url= https://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/recital-will-long-shine-in-the-memory/article1330317/ |access-date= September 9, 2013}}</ref>

Vickers further sang at the 'home' of Italian opera, Milan's [[La Scala]], as well as in the major opera houses of [[Lyric Opera of Chicago|Chicago]], [[San Francisco Opera|San Francisco]], [[Vienna State Opera|Vienna]], and at the [[Salzburg Festival]]. He retired in 1988.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/13/arts/music/jon-vickers-opera-star-known-for-his-raw-power-and-intensity-dies-at-88.html|work=The New York Times|title=Jon Vickers, Opera Star Known for His Raw Power and Intensity, Dies at 88|date=July 12, 2015|access-date=July 14, 2015|first=Anthony|last=Tommasini}}</ref>