Background
Sherrill Milnes was born in Downers Grove, Illinois, United States on January 10, 1935.
Sherrill Milnes was born in Downers Grove, Illinois, United States on January 10, 1935.
He studied voice and various instruments at Drake University in Iowa and at Northwestern University, where he became involved with the opera workshop.
He made his first professional appearances as a member of the Chicago Symphony Chorus. In 1960 he joined Boris Goldovsky's New England Opera Company. He sang his first major role, Gérard in Giordano's Andrea Chénier, with the Baltimore Civic Opera in 1961.
He made his European debut in 1964 at Milan's Teatro Nuovo as Figaro in Rossini's Il Barbiere di Siviglia. In 1965 he made his debut at the Metropolitan Opera as Valentin in Gounod's Faust. Since that time he has been the Metropolitan Opera's leading dramatic baritone in the Italian and French repertories. Milnes' Verdi roles include Amonasro in Aïda, Rodrigo in Don Carlo, Don Carlo in La Forza del Destino, Miller in Luisa Miller, Macbeth, Iago in Otello, Rigoletto, Germont in La Traviata, and Count di Luna in Il Trovatore.
His other repertory includes Riccardo in Bellini's I Puritani, Tonio in Leoncavallo's I Pagliacci, Mozart's Don Giovanni, Scarpia in Puccini's Tosca, and such rarities as Thomas' Hamlet and Saint-Saëns' Henry VIII. In 1967 he created the role of Adam Brant in Marvin David Levy's Mourning Becomes Electra, based on the Eugene O'Neill play and commissioned by the Metropolitan Opera for its new home at Lincoln Center.
