Edward Allen Baird (18 March 1933 – 2 August 2000) was an American bass, music educator, and choral conductor.
[1] He had a celebrated career as a voice teacher at the University of North Texas where he taught from 1962 until his death in 2000.
[1] Baird pursued further graduate studies in voice under baritones Ralph Herbert[6] at the University of Michigan (UM) where he earned a Doctor of Musical Arts in 1962.
[1] In 1962 he taught on the faculty of the Interlochen Center for the Arts, and that same year was appointed assistant professor of music at the University of North Texas (UNT).
[8] Notable singers who studied with Baird included three winners of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions: tenors John Carpenter and Timothy Jenkins, and bass Mark McCrory.
[15] He returned to Interlochen in 1962 as the bass soloist in Joseph Haydn's The Creation under conductor Margaret Hillis;[16] a part he also performed with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in their 1962-1963 season.
[14] Some of the part he performed at the FWO included Abimélech in Samson and Delilah (1966),[18] Crespel in The Tales of Hoffmann (1964),[19] Conte Carnero in The Gypsy Baron (1966),[6] Lodovico in Otello (1966),[20] Basilio in The Barber of Seville (1967),[21] Raimondo in Lucia di Lammermoor (1967),[22] Dottore Grenvil in La traviata (1968[23] and 1974),[24] Bartolo in The Marriage of Figaro (1968),[25] Geronte di Ravoir in Manon Lescaut (1968),[26] Samuel in Un ballo in maschera (1969),[27] the Sacristan in Tosca (1969),[28] William Jennings Bryan in The Ballad of Baby Doe (1970),[29] Colline in La bohème (1971),[30] Talpa in Il tabarro (1974),[31] Don Pedro in La Périchole (1976),[32] Elder McLean in Susannah (1976),[32] the King in Aida (1976),[32] both the police inspector and the notary in Der Rosenkavalier (1977),[17] both Cesare Angelotti and the jailer in Tosca (1977),[33] and the title role in The Mikado (1977).
[1] In March 1969 Baird performed the role of Joad the High Priest in the United States premiere of Handel's Athalia in Dallas.
at Casa Mañana,[38] and appeared as a soloist with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra (DSO) in Handel's Messiah under Anshel Brusilow.
In previous he had performed with the DSO as a soloist in Johann Sebastian Bach's Mass in B minor, Ludwig van Beethoven's Symphony No.