Chester Watson

Chester Watson (born September 6, 1911, Brooklyn - died January 8, 1979, Manhattan) was an American bass-baritone who had an active performance career in operas and concerts from the late 1940s into the 1970s. He was particularly active as a performer in opera on American television with the NBC Opera Theater. He also made appearances with several American opera companies, including the New York City Opera, the Lyric Opera of Chicago, and the Opera Society of Washington. He is best known for creating roles in the world premieres of several American operas, including the First Police Agent in Gian Carlo Menotti's The Consul (1950), Father Julien in Norman Dello Joio's The Trial at Rouen (1956), Palivec in Robert Kurka's The Good Soldier Schweik (1958), and Leonard Swett in Thomas Pasatieri's The Trial of Mary Lincoln (1972). He notably starred opposite Maria Callas as Goffredo in the American Opera Society's lauded 1959 production of Giuseppe Verdi's Il pirata; a performance which was recorded for EMI Classics. On the concert stage he appeared frequently with the National Symphony Orchestra during the 1950s, and also made guest appearances as a soloist with other American symphonies like the New York Philharmonic.

Born in Brooklyn, Watson was trained in vocal performance at St. Lawrence University. After college he enlisted in the United States Army where he served until the end of World War II. He began his singing career in New York City in 1946 after his discharge, with several early success being national radio broadcasts with the CBS Symphony Orchestra (CBSSO) on CBS Radio. These included the first recording of Paul Hindemith's When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd (1946); Polyphemus in George Frideric Handel's Acis and Galatea (1946); and the part of Siméon in Claude Debussy’s L'enfant prodigue with Bernard Herrmann conducting the CBSSO in 1947. His first major opera role was the First Police Agent in the original Broadway production of Gian Carlo Menotti's The Consul at the Ethel Barrymore Theater in 1950. He continued on tour with that production to Philadelphia and Montreal in 1951, this time in the larger role of Mr. Kofner. In 1953 he starred in the one act television opera The Parrot by composer Darrell Peters which was created as part of the Armstrong Circle Theatre anthology series.