Born in Los Angeles, Chapman graduated from the University of Southern California and pursued vocal training with William De Mille, Edward Lippi, and Leon Cepparo in his native city.
[1] He starred Off-Broadway in Carmen Lombardo and John Jacob Loeb's 1955 musical Arabian Nights at the Jones Beach Marine Theatre opposite Lauritz Melchior and Helena Scott.
[4] He made his first appearance on the live opera stage in July 1957 at the Cleveland Musicarnival as Scarpia in Giacomo Puccini's Tosca with Beverly Sills as the title heroine and John Gutman directing.
[20] In 1961 he took over the role of the Pirate King from Voketaitis[21] and also appeared at the City Opera that year as Michele in Puccini's Il tabarro with Arlene Saunders as Giorgetta,[22] Count Almaviva in Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro with Doris Jung as the Countess[23] and Emile de Becque in Rodgers and Hammerstein's South Pacific.
[26] In March 1962 he portrayed Horace Tabor in Douglas Moore's The Ballad of Baby Doe opposite Beverly Sills in the title role[27] and the Secret Police Agent in Menotti's The Consul.
[32] He continued to perform annually at the NYCO throughout the rest of the 1960s, but did not add any more new roles to his repertoire with the company until 1969 when he portrayed Khan Konchak in Alexander Borodin's Prince Igor.
[38] Other NYCO roles for him during the 1970s included the four villains in Jacques Offenbach's The Tales of Hoffmann,[39] Jack Rance in La fanciulla del West,[40] and Étienne in Victor Herbert's Naughty Marietta.
[41] His last appearance at the NYCO was in October 1979 as Frank Maurrant in Kurt Weill's Street Scene, a production which was broadcast live on PBS's Great Performances.