Mack Kendree Harrell, Jr. (October 8, 1909 — January 29, 1960)[1] was an American operatic and concert baritone vocalist who was regarded as one of the greatest American-born lieder singers of his generation.
One of his brothers, Lynn Mozart Harrell (1902–1987), had been a big band pianist with the Jimmy Joy Orchestra while a student at The University of Texas at Austin in the 1920s.
Among the many roles he portrayed at the Met are Amfortas in Parsifal, Baron Douphol in La Traviata, Captain Balstrode in Peter Grimes, Dancaïre in Carmen, Dodon in Le Coq d'Or, Fiorello in Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Frédéric in Lakmé, Herald in Lohengrin, Kothner in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, Lindorf in Les Contes d'Hoffmann, Masetto in Don Giovanni, Papageno in Die Zauberflöte, Peter in Hänsel und Gretel, Shchelkalov in Boris Godunov, and Wolfram in Tannhäuser among others.
He notably created the role of Samson in the world premiere of Bernard Rogers's The Warrior opposite Regina Resnik as Delilah at the Met on January 11, 1947.
[6] While performing at the Met, Harrell also maintained an active concert career, and in 1944 he gave the world premiere of Arnold Schoenberg's Ode to Napoleon Buonaparte (1942) for speaker, string orchestra and piano.
He sang several more roles with that company during the 1945–1946 season, including the Commissioner in Der Rosenkavalier, Dapertutto in Les Contes d'Hoffmann, Fernando in Fidelio, Germont, Marcello in La bohème, Ramiro in L'heure espagnole, and Silvio in Pagliacci among others.
In 1955, he portrayed Olin Blitch in the world premiere of Carlisle Floyd's Susannah at Florida State University opposite Phyllis Curtin in the title role.