Richard Versalle

[1] He was initially known as a concert and oratorio singer and did not make his operatic stage debut until the age of 45 when he sang Augustin Moser in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg at Chicago Lyric Opera.

Versalle made his debut at the Metropolitan Opera on 8 December 1978, when he sang the minor role of the Messenger in Aida.

Primarily performing in Europe, he became a well-known figure in the world wide Operatic community, having made his European debut in 1981 as Verdi's Otello at the Saarbrücken opera house .

On 5 January 1996, Versalle was singing the role of Vitek, a law clerk, at the Metropolitan Opera premiere of Janáček's The Makropulos Case, sung in English translation.

Only a few minutes into the performance, after singing the line "You can only live so long" whilst halfway up a 20-foot (6-meter) ladder, he suffered a heart attack, and fell to the stage.