Born Modesto, California, 9 September 1932.
Died Modesto, California, 2 July 2019.
American bass-baritone.
William Dooley spent most of his career in Germany and Austria. His main contracts were at Bielefeld, the Deutsche Oper, Berlin and Vienna. He also appeared at the New York Met from 1964.
He trained in Rochester, NY, before moving to Munich, and made his debut as Posa in Don Carlos at Heidelberg (1957). He was under contract at Bielefeld (1959-62) before joining the Berlin house, where he remained. He worked as a guest with other European houses, including Hamburg, Vienna, Florence and the Salzburg Festival. In the United States, he worked at the Metropolitan over 14 seasons, from his debut in 1964, also appearing at Chicago and Santa Fe.
His repertoire included Wagner (Telramund, Kothner, Holländer); Beethoven (Pizarro), Strauss (Jokanaan); Berg (Wozzeck, Dr Schön); Zimmermann (Major Mary in Die Soldaten). Non-German parts included Verdi (Macbeth, Amonasro); Tchaikovsky (Onegin); Bizet (Escamillo), Offenbach (four roles in Hoffmann) and Nick Shadow.
In Berlin he created parts in a number of new operas, including Cortez (Montezuma by Roger Sessions 1964); Mizoguchi in Kinkakuji by Mayuzumi, (1976); Tiresias in Oedipus by Rihm (1987) and Eagle in Los Alamos by Neikrug (1988). Other creations include Captain in The Bassarids (Henze, Salzburg 1966) and Oberlin in Jakob Lenz (Rihm, Hamburg 1979).
(Main Source: New Grove Dictionary of Opera)
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