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Opera singer Gabor Andrasy, a Holiday resident, died Wednesday (July 14, 2004) of complications from abdominal cancer. Mr. Andrasy, 61, a bass, was especially well-known for his performances in Wagnerian roles with the Seattle Opera.
"Gabor was a vital part of Seattle Opera," said Speight Jenkins, the company's general director. "A great bass, he sang here in five languages and even more styles."
A Hungarian who grew up in Romania, Mr. Andrasy began his career in Europe, eventually performing with many of the major opera companies, such as the Opera de Bastille in Paris and the Munich Opera. He made his first U.S. appearance in 1987 with the Seattle Opera in Wagner's Ring cycle, singing Hunding in Die Walkure and Hagen in Gotterdammerung. He became an American citizen in 1995.
Mr. Andrasy sang in four successive Ring cycles with Seattle and was scheduled to return for another in 2005. Other roles in Seattle included Dansker in Billy Budd, Rocco in Fidelio, Comendatore in Don Giovanni and the Great Inquisitor in Don Carlo. His most recent Seattle performances were as Ezra Mannon in last fall's Mourning Becomes Electra.
"A man almost impossible to summarize, Gabor had great warmth, a wonderful sense of humor, a classic hot temper that vanished almost as soon as it appeared, and a capacity for real friendship given to a few," Jenkins said. "He was a great artist and an even more significant human being, a treasure to all of us who had the good fortune to know him."
In recent years, Mr. Andrasy sang in a number of new operas, including The Handmaid's Tale, an opera by Poul Ruders that had its North American premiere at the Minnesota Opera; and Tobias Picker's Therese Raquin at the Dallas Opera.
Mr. Andrasy's wife, Theresa, is a mezzo-soprano and professor of voice and opera at the University of South Florida. They met while in a German production of The Magic Flute. The bass is also survived by a son and daughter from a previous marriage.
Mr. Andrasy originally trained to be an architect in Romania. He once said he settled in Holiday because he enjoyed fishing and the tropical climate. He never performed locally, but it was not uncommon for him to attend recitals by colleagues, such as Denyce Graves' program at the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center several years ago.
Seattle Opera is dedicating its production of Wagner's Lohengrin, which opens July 31, in memory of Mr. Andrasy.