Douglas Ahlstedt

Douglas Ahlstedt (born 16 March 1945, Jamestown, New York) is an American operatic tenor who had an international performance career with major opera houses from the 1970s through the 1990s. He currently teaches on the voice faculty at Carnegie Mellon University.

Born in Jamestown, New York, Ahlstedt attended and performed with the American Boychoir School in Princeton, NJ in his youth. He sang in his first opera while still a child, portraying the role of Miles in the United States premiere of Benjamin Britten's The Turn of the Screw with the New York College of Music in 1958. He earned a bachelor's degree in vocal performance from the State University of New York at Fredonia and a master's degree in vocal performance from the Eastman School of Music.

In 1972 Ahlstedt made his debut at the San Francisco Opera as Koby in the United States premiere of Gottfried von Einem's Der Besuch der alten Dame. That same year he made his debut at the Tanglewood Music Festival as the Boy in Ian Strasfogel's The Yes Men, and was also heard at Tanglewood that year as Soldato pretoriano in L'incoronazione di Poppea.

In 1973 Ahlstedt won the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. He made his debut on the Met stage in September 1973 as Borsa in Rigoletto with Louis Quilico in the title role. He appeared at the Met in multiple roles, both leading and minor, over the next three seasons, including Benvolio in Roméo et Juliette, Brighella in Ariadne auf Naxos, Count Almaviva in The Barber of Seville, Danieli in I vespri siciliani, Edmondo in Manon Lescaut, Fenton in Falstaff, the First Prisoner in Fidelio, Froh in Das Rheingold, Gastone in La traviata, Lindoro in L'Italiana in Algeri, the Lover in Il tabarro, Major-domo in Der Rosenkavalier, Nathanael in The Tales of Hoffmann, a Priest in The Magic Flute, the Sailor's Voice in Tristan Und Isolde, and the Third Esquire in Parsifal.