Herbert Beattie

Herbert Wilson Beattie (born August 23, 1926) is an American operatic bass and voice teacher.

Born in Chicago, Beattie studied vocal performance at Colorado College (B.A., 1948), Westminster Choir College (M.M., 1950), and the Mozarteum University of Salzburg (1955). He also studied voice at the American Conservatory of Music in Chicago with John Wilcox and privately with Dick Marzolo in New York and Josef Krips in Buffalo.

In 1957 Beattie made his debut at the New York City Opera (NYCO) as Baron Douphol in Verdi's La traviata with Beverly Sills as Violetta. He appeared frequently with the NYCO for the next 25 years, portraying such roles as Marquis de Cascada in The Merry Widow (1957), Zuniga in Carmen (1957), Osmin in Die Entführung aus dem Serail (1957, 1966, 1969), Pooh-Bah in The Mikado (1958, 1961), Frank in Die Fledermaus (1959), the Sergeant of Police in The Pirates of Penzance (1960, 1964), Bartolo in The Marriage of Figaro (1962), Shadbolt in The Yeomen of the Guard (1964), Lindorf, Coppelius and Dr. Miracle in The Tales of Hoffmann (1965), Leandro in The Love for Three Oranges (1966), Secret Police Agent in The Consul (1966), the title role in Don Pasquale (1967), Raimondo Bidebent in Lucia di Lammermoor (1969), Falstaff in The Merry Wives of Windsor (1980), and the Priest in The Cunning Little Vixen (1981) among other appearances. He also appeared in several United States premieres with the NYCO, including portraying Sir Morosus in the American premiere of Richard Strauss's Die schweigsame Frau (1958) and the Mayor in the American premiere of Werner Egk's Der Revisor. In 1965 he created the role of Andrew Borden in the world premiere of Jack Beeson's Lizzie Borden at the NYCO.