Paul Plishka
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Biography
Born in Old Forge, Pennsylvania, on August 28, 1941, bass Paul Plishka's career includes 88 roles in 1672 performances with New York's Metropoiltan Opera. Originally from the Ukraine on his grandparents' side, his parents settled in Paterson, New Jersey, when he was sixteen, and he studied at Eastside High School. Noticed in a performance of Rodgers & Hammerstein's musical Oklahoma! he learned opera singing at Montclair State College with Armen Boyajian and made his Paterson Opera debut in 1961. Engaged for a Metropolitan Opera National Company tour in 1965, he joined New York's Metropolitan Opera in 1967, making his debut in Ponchielli's La Gioconda, with Renata Tebaldi, Rosalind Elias and Sherrill Milnes. He soon went on to play bass roles in Mozart, Verdi, Donizetti, Gounod, Beethoven, Saint-Saëns, Rossini, Bellini, Wagner, Puccini, Moussorgski, Massenet, Brittten, DvoÅák, Smetana, Tchaikovsky and Stravinsky, and participated in famous recordings with Julius Rudel, James Levine, Alain Lombard, ThomasSchippers, Richard Bonynge, Zubin Mehta, Robert Shaw, Mstislav Rostropovitch or Riccardo Muti, in Verdi's La forza del destino in 1986. Retired from the Metropolitan Opera after forty-five years of loyal service, he gave his last performance in Tosca (Puccini) on January 28, 2012, before being invited back between 2016 and 2018. During his career, Paul Plishka also performed extensively in Europe, notably at La Scala in Milan, the Opéra de Paris, the Liceu in Barcelona, the Mai musical in Florence (1976) and the Salzburg Festival (1998). Inducted into the Hall of Fame for the Great American Opera Singers, he retired to Wilmington, North Carolina, where he died on February 3, 2025 at the age of 83.
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Albums
Top Tracks
- Track Popularity
- I Puritani: Vien, diletto, è in ciel la luna by Paul Plishka
- I Puritani: O rendetemi le speme...Qui la voce by Paul Plishka
- Puccini: La bohème, Act I - Pensier profundo! (Live) featuring Leonard Bernstein
- Puccini: La bohème, Act I - Questo Mar Rosso (Live) featuring Leonard Bernstein
- I Puritani: Ma tu già mi fuggi? featuring Paul Plishka
- Mozart: Le nozze di Figaro, K.492 / Act 2: "Voi signor, che giusto siete" featuring James Levine
- Mozart: Le nozze di Figaro, K.492 / Act 3: "E decisa la lite" featuring Thomas Hampson
- I Puritani: Oh! vieni al tempio featuring London Philharmonic Orchestra
- Act IV: Niun mi tema featuring James Levine
- Puccini: La bohème, Act I - Abasso, abbasso l'autor! (Live) featuring Leonard Bernstein
- Puccini: La bohème, Act II - Chi guardi? (Live) featuring Leonard Bernstein
- Puccini: La bohème, Act II - Arranci, datteri! (Live) featuring Leonard Bernstein
- I Puritani: E di morte lo stral non sarà lento featuring Paul Plishka
- Puccini: La bohème, Act I - Ehi! Rodolfo! (Live) featuring Leonard Bernstein
- Mozart: Le nozze di Figaro, K.492 / Act 3: "Riconosci in questo amplesso" featuring Thomas Hampson
- Puccini: La bohème, Act I - Io resto per terminar l'articolo (Live) featuring Leonard Bernstein
- Puccini: La bohème, Act I - Si può â Chi è là ? (Live) featuring Leonard Bernstein
- I Puritani: Ferma! Invan, invan rapir pretendi featuring Nicolai Gedda
- Bellini: I Puritani / Act 1: Son vergin vezzosa featuring John McCarthy
- I Puritani: Il rito augusto si compia senza me featuring Julius Rudel
- Verdi: Requiem: II. Dies irae featuring Jerry Hadley
- Offenbach: Les Contes d'Hoffmann / Act 3 - Elle a fui la tourterelle featuring Richard Bonynge
- Offenbach: Les Contes d'Hoffmann / Act 3 - Mon enfant! Ma fille! featuring Richard Bonynge
- Donizetti: Anna Bolena - Tragedia lirica in due atti / Act 1 - La mia fama e a'pie dell'ara (Giovanna, Enrico) featuring London Symphony Orchestra
