Kurt Ollmann (born January 19, 1957 in

Racine, Wisconsin Racine ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Racine County, Wisconsin, United States. It is located on the shore of Lake Michigan at the mouth of the Root River. Racine is situated 22 miles (35 km) south of Milwaukee and approximately 60 ...

), is an American

opera Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a librett ...

tic

baritone A baritone is a type of classical male singing voice whose vocal range lies between the bass and the tenor voice-types. The term originates from the Greek (), meaning "heavy sounding". Composers typically write music for this voice in the r ...

, known for his frequent musical association with composer and conductor

Leonard Bernstein Leonard Bernstein ( ; August 25, 1918 – October 14, 1990) was an American conductor, composer, pianist, music educator, author, and humanitarian. Considered to be one of the most important conductors of his time, he was the first America ...

from 1982 until Bernstein's death in 1990. He has performed extensively, in opera,

musical theatre Musical theatre is a form of theatrical performance that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance. The story and emotional content of a musical – humor, pathos, love, anger – are communicated through words, music, movemen ...

, and solo recitals.

Early life

Ollmann was born, and grew up, in Racine, Wisconsin. From age 12 to 14, he and his family lived in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

. They then returned to Racine, where he attended

Horlick High School William Horlick High School (also known as Horlick or Racine Horlick High School) is a comprehensive public four-year high school in Racine, Wisconsin with an enrollment of approximately 2,000 students. The school opened to students in 1928, after ...

. He attended

Bowdoin College Bowdoin College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Brunswick, Maine. When Bowdoin was chartered in 1794, Maine was still a part of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The college offers 34 majors and 36 minors, as well as several joint eng ...

, graduating in 1977 with a degree in

Romance languages The Romance languages, sometimes referred to as Latin languages or Neo-Latin languages, are the various modern languages that evolved from Vulgar Latin. They are the only extant subgroup of the Italic languages in the Indo-European language fam ...

Career

After college, Ollmann moved to

Milwaukee Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at the 2020 census, Milwaukee is ...

, Wisconsin to begin a singing and theatrical career. He studied singing with Marlena Malas,

Yolanda Marculescu Yolanda Marculescu ( ro, Iolanda Mărculescu-Stern; 2 April 1923 – 19 December 1992) was a Romanian American coloratura soprano and diva of the Romanian National Opera in Bucharest from 1948 to 1968. Fleeing the communist bloc, Marculescu becam ...

and

Gérard Souzay Gérard Souzay (8 December 1918 – 17 August 2004) was a French baritone, regarded as one of the very finest interpreters of mélodie (French art song) in the generation after Charles Panzéra and Pierre Bernac. Background and education He wa ...

. He also became a member of the

Skylight Opera Theatre Skylight Music Theatre, known until January 2012 as Skylight Opera Theatre, is a professional light opera and musical theatre company located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Founded in 1959, Skylight performs in the 358-seat Cabot Theatre at the Broadway T ...

in Milwaukee. In 1982 Ollmann moved to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. There he was introduced to Leonard Bernstein, and he performed in Bernstein's opera '' A Quiet Place'' in 1984. Ollmann was selected by Bernstein to sing Riff for the 1984 recording of ''

West Side Story ''West Side Story'' is a musical conceived by Jerome Robbins with music by Leonard Bernstein, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, and a book by Arthur Laurents. Inspired by William Shakespeare's play ''Romeo and Juliet'', the story is set in the mid-1 ...

'', which Bernstein was conducting for the first time nearly 30 years after he'd composed the music. A

television documentary Television documentaries are televised media productions that screen documentaries. Television documentaries exist either as a television documentary series or as a television documentary film. *Television documentary series, sometimes called d ...

was made about these recording sessions. Ollmann sang the role of Maximilian for the recording of ''

Candide ( , ) is a French satire written by Voltaire, a philosopher of the Age of Enlightenment, first published in 1759. The novella has been widely translated, with English versions titled ''Candide: or, All for the Best'' (1759); ''Candide: or, The ...

'', which was again composed and conducted by Bernstein. In the 2000s Ollmann served as an associate professor of music at the

University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee The University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee (UW–Milwaukee, UWM, or Milwaukee) is a public urban research university in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. It is the largest university in the Milwaukee metropolitan area and a member of the University of Wiscons ...

Awards and honors

Both the 1984 recording of ''West Side Story'' and the 1989 recording of ''Candide'' won Grammy awards in the categories of

Best Musical Theater Album The Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album has been awarded since 1959. The award is generally given to the album producer, principal vocalist(s), and the composer and lyricist if they have written a new score which comprises 51% or more play ...

and

Best Classical Album The Grammy Award for Best Classical Album was awarded from 1962 to 2011. The award had several minor name changes: *From 1962 to 1963, 1965 to 1972 and 1974 to 1976 the award was known as Album of the Year – Classical *In 1964 and 1977 it wa ...

, respectively. Ollmann received an

honorary degree An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or ''ad hono ...

in music from his alma mater, Bowdoin, in 1988.

Personal life

Ollmann is openly gay. In the 1990s Ollmann lived in

Santa Fe, New Mexico Santa Fe ( ; , Spanish for 'Holy Faith'; tew, Oghá P'o'oge, Tewa for 'white shell water place'; tiw, Hulp'ó'ona, label=Tiwa language, Northern Tiwa; nv, Yootó, Navajo for 'bead + water place') is the capital of the U.S. state of New Mexico. ...

, with his then-partner, director and ''A Quiet Place'' librettist

Stephen Wadsworth Stephen or Steven is a common English first name. It is particularly significant to Christians, as it belonged to Saint Stephen ( grc-gre, Στέφανος ), an early disciple and deacon who, according to the Book of Acts, was stoned to death; h ...

. In 2000 Ollmann returned to Milwaukee. His current partner is Bill Lavonis, an operatic tenor, whom he began dating in 2000; the two have sometimes performed together. In 2014, he and Lavonis moved to

Savannah, Georgia Savannah ( ) is the oldest city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia and is the county seat of Chatham County, Georgia, Chatham County. Established in 1733 on the Savannah River, the city of Savannah became the Kingdom of Great Br ...

Select discography

* Bernstein: ''On the Town'', conducted by Michael Tilson Thomas, Deutsche Grammophon, 1993

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ollmann, Kurt 1957 births Living people Musicians from Racine, Wisconsin Bowdoin College alumni University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee faculty American operatic baritones Singers from Wisconsin American LGBT singers LGBT people from Wisconsin Classical musicians from Wisconsin William Horlick High School alumni