Hirst, Grayson
Hirst, Grayson
Hirst, Grayson, American tenor; b. Ojai, Calif., Dec. 27, 1939. He studied at the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara, Calif., with Singher at the Univ. of Calif, at Los Angeles, and with Tourel at the Juilliard School of Music in N.Y. (1963–72), making his professional debut as Cavalli’s Ormindo with the Opera Soc. of Washington, D.C. (1969). His first appearance in N.Y. was as Tonio in a concert performance of La Fille du régiment at Carnegie Hall (1970); after singing Quint in The Turn of the Screw at the N.Y.C. Opera (1972), he appeared in opera throughout the U.S. and Europe while also pursuing an extensive concert career. In 1986 he joined the faculty at the Univ. of Ariz. His operatic repertoire includes over 70 roles, ranging from Mozart to contemporary roles.
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire