Jess Thomas

[citation needed] For several years, he worked as a high school guidance counselor, before enrolling at Stanford University for an MA.

[citation needed] Learning that the operatic department was producing Verdi's Falstaff, he auditioned for Otto Schulmann, the vocal professor, and obtained the role of Fenton.

[citation needed] Thomas made his operatic debut in 1957 for the San Francisco Opera, performing in Richard Strauss's Der Rosenkavalier as the Haushofmeister.

[3] Among the highlights of his career with the Met was appearing at the opening of the new Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center, in the first performance of Samuel Barber's Antony and Cleopatra with Leontyne Price.

[5] On December 9, 1981, San Francisco Opera general director Kurt Herbert Adler called Thomas an hour before a performance of Die Walküre.