Malas, Spiro
Malas, Spiro
Malas, Spiro, American bass-baritone; b. Baltimore, Jan. 28, 1933. He studied voice with Nagy at the Peabody Cons, of Music in Baltimore and with Elsa Baklor and Daniel Ferro in N.Y.; was also coached by Ivor Chichagov. In 1959 he made his operatic debut as Marco in Gianni Schicchi in Baltimore, and in 1961 won the Metropolitan Opera Auditions. On Oct. 5, 1961, he made his first appearance at the N.Y.C. Opera as Spinellocchio in Gianni Schicchi, and continued to sing there regularly. In 1965 he toured Australia with the Sutherland-Williamson International Grand Opera Co. In 1966 he made his debut at London’s Covent Garden as Sulpice in La Fille du régiment. He sang Assur in Semiramide for his first appearance at the Chicago Lyric Opera in 1971. On Oct. 8, 1983, he made his Metropolitan Opera debut in N.Y. as Sulpice, and later appeared as Zuniga in Carmen, as Mozart’s Bartolo, as Frank in Die Fledermaus, and as the sacristan in Tosca.He also toured widely as a concert artist. In 1992 he scored a fine success on Broadway in the revival of The Most Happy Fella.
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire