About Simon

simonestesInternationally renowned bass-baritone Simon Estes enjoys the acclaim of audiences and critics around the globe. Since his debut with the Deutsche Oper Berlin in 1965, Simon Estes has performed with major international opera companies including the Metropolitan Opera, New York; Lyric Opera, Chicago; San Francisco Opera; La Scala Milan; Deutsche Opera, Berlin; Royal Opera House, Covent Garden; The Washington Opera; L'Opéra de Paris; Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona; the States Operas of Hamburg, Munich, Vienna and Zurich and at the Bayreuth, Salzburg and Glyndebourne Festivals.

A noted recitalist and orchestra soloist as well, Mr. Estes has sung with the world's leading orchestras

under the batons of such conductors as Gerd Albrecht, Leonard Bernstein, Gary Bertini, Myung Whun Chung, James Conlon, Sir Colin Davis, Rafael Fruhbeck de Burgos, Carlo Maria Giulini, James Levine, Lorin Maazel, Kurt Masur, Zubin Mehta, Riccardo Muti, Seiji Ozawa, Mstislav Rostropovich, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Wolfgang Sawallisch, Giuseppe Sinopoli, Sir Georg Solti, Horst Stein, Marcello Viotti and David Zinman.

Several performances have been marked as historic milestones in Mr. Estes' career. His triumphant debut as Dutchman at the Bayreuth Festival in 1978 was the first appearance of any black male artist there. He was the Metropolitan Opera's first Porgy in 1985 and sang the following year with the Boston Pops at the Statue of Liberty centennial celebration. He has sung at the White House for three American Presidents and in 1990 he has performed at the service honoring Nelson Mandela at New York's Riverside Church and with the National Symphony under the direction of Mstislav Rostropovich for the Fourth of July Celebration in Washington. In the fall of 1994 he sang for Nobel Laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu in The Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City.

 

Mr. Estes' love and concern for youth is manifested in the four scholarship organizations that bear his name; The Simon Estes Scholarship Fund at the University of Iowa; The Simon and Westella H. Estes Scholarship Fund at Centerville Community College, Centerville, Iowa; The Simon Estes Iowa Arts Scholarship and The Simon Estes Educational Foundation, Inc. in Tulsa, Oklahoma. This latter Foundation being the most broad-based has spawned the formation of The Simon Estes International Foundation, Inc., Zurich, Switzerland in 1984 and The Simon Estes Foundation, Cape Town, South Africa in 1996. Restricted music scholarships are offered in Estes' name at Centerville Community College, the University of Iowa and through the Simon Estes Iowa Arts Scholarship Fund.

His many engagements in the 2002/2003 season included appearances in Linz, as Amonasro in a concert version of Parsifal; in Moscow, as Jochanaan in a concert version of Salome; and in Tel Aviv, as Amonasro. Among other engagements Simon Estes performed concerts in Luzern; Tulsa, Oklahoma and Zurich, Switzerland. Among his recording credits are works on the Auvidis, Decca, Deutsche Grammophon, Deutsche Schallplatten, EMI, Phillips Classics and Sony Classical labels.

Simon Estes, a native of Centerville, Iowa, is the father of three daughters, Jennifer Barbara, Lynne Ashley and Tiffany Joy. He and his wife, Ovida, divide their time between homes in Iowa and Zurich. Although, Simon now finds himself spending more time in Iowa, as he is on staff with several Iowa colleges.

Simon has returned to Tulsa almost every year since the Foundation's inception to perform, at no cost, a benefit concert for the Foundation's ongoing scholarship program.

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