Gary Lakes (born September 26, 1950) is an American opera heldentenor. Lakes was born in Woodward, Oklahoma, and raised in

Irving, Texas Irving is a city in the U.S. state of Texas. Located in Dallas County, it is also an inner ring suburb of Dallas. The city of Irving is part of the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. According to a 2019 estimate from the United States Census Bureau, ...

. He made his professional debut with the Seattle Opera in the role of

Froh Freyr ( Old Norse: 'Lord'), sometimes anglicized as Frey, is a widely attested god in Norse mythology, associated with kingship, fertility, peace, and weather. Freyr, sometimes referred to as Yngvi-Freyr, was especially associated with Sweden ...

in 1981 in

Wagner's Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, polemicist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most op ...

'' Das Rheingold'', after attending Southern Methodist University where he studied with Thomas Hayward. He was a high school

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

defensive tackle A defensive tackle (DT) is a position in American football that will typically line up on the line of scrimmage, opposite one of the offensive guards, however he may also line up opposite one of the tackles. Defensive tackles are typically the la ...

, but switched his career aspirations to singing after a cracked vertebra derailed any hope for a football career. He debuted with the Metropolitan Opera on February 4, 1986 as the High Priest in

Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 17565 December 1791), baptised as Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. Despite his short life, his ra ...

's '' Idomeneo'' and soon after sang the role of Walther in Wagner's '' Tannhäuser''. In 1987, he sang the role of Siegmund in Wagner's '' Die Walküre'' with the Met. He sang the role of Siegmund on both the Met's DVD and CD of ''Die Walküre'' opposite Jessye Norman as Sieglinde with James Levine conducting. Other roles he has sung at the Met include Don Jose in Bizet's ''

Carmen ''Carmen'' () is an opera in four acts by the French composer Georges Bizet. The libretto was written by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, based on the Carmen (novella), novella of the same title by Prosper Mérimée. The opera was first perfo ...

'', Samson in Saint-Saëns' '' Samson et Dalila'', the Emperor in Strauss' '' Die Frau ohne Schatten'', Erik in Wagner's '' Der fliegende Holländer'', Grigory in Mussorgsky's ''

Boris Godunov Borís Fyodorovich Godunóv (; russian: Борис Фёдорович Годунов; 1552 ) ruled the Tsardom of Russia as ''de facto'' regent from c. 1585 to 1598 and then as the first non-Rurikid tsar from 1598 to 1605. After the end of his ...

'', Florestan in Beethoven's '' Fidelio'', the title role in Wagner's '' Parsifal'', Laca in Janáček's '' Jenůfa'', Aeneas in Berlioz' ''

Les Troyens ''Les Troyens'' (; in English: ''The Trojans'') is a French grand opera in five acts by Hector Berlioz. The libretto was written by Berlioz himself from Virgil's epic poem the ''Aeneid''; the score was composed between 1856 and 1858. ''Les Tro ...

'' and Jimmy Mahoney in Weill's '' Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny''. Other Wagner roles he has sung at various opera houses include Tristan in '' Tristan und Isolde'', Siegfried in '' Götterdämmerung'' and the title roles in ''Tannhäuser'' and '' Lohengrin''. Other roles have included Admete in Gluck's '' Alceste'', Herod in Strauss' ''

Salome Salome (; he, שְלוֹמִית, Shlomit, related to , "peace"; el, Σαλώμη), also known as Salome III, was a Jewish princess, the daughter of Herod II, son of Herod the Great, and princess Herodias, granddaughter of Herod the Great, an ...

'', the title role in Berlioz' La damnation de Faust and concert performances of

Beethoven's Ninth Symphony The Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125, is a choral symphony, the final complete symphony by Ludwig van Beethoven, composed between 1822 and 1824. It was first performed in Vienna on 7 May 1824. The symphony is regarded by many critics and music ...

and

Gustav Mahler Gustav Mahler (; 7 July 1860 – 18 May 1911) was an Austro-Bohemian Romantic composer, and one of the leading conductors of his generation. As a composer he acted as a bridge between the 19th-century Austro-German tradition and the modernism ...

's '' Lied von der Erde''. Besides Siegmund, he has recorded the roles of Bacchus in Strauss' '' Ariadne auf Naxos'' and Aeneas in ''Les Troyens'', and also albums of Irish songs and ballads (in English). He appeared on '' The Tonight Show with Jay Leno'' on January 14, 1993. Lakes is a fellow of the Music Academy of the West, where he attended in 1977.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lakes, Gary 1950 births Musicians from Dallas American operatic tenors Living people Classical musicians from Texas Music Academy of the West alumni Singers from Texas