Joshua Hecht

Joshua Hecht is an operatic bass.

Born in New York City, the son of Russian Jewish immigrants, he received a Bachelor of Arts from New York University, in 1951.

Hecht was a student of Rosa Ponselle, and made his formal debut with her company, the Baltimore Civic Opera, in 1953, as the Comte des Grieux in Manon. Two years later, he first appeared with the New York City Opera, as Monterone in Rigoletto, with Cornell MacNeil in the name part. From 1955 to 1960, the bass sang with that ensemble, as Colline in La bohème, Cesare Angelotti in Tosca, Sparafucile in Rigoletto (with Aldo Protti, later Louis Quilico, as the jester), Ferrando in Il trovatore (conducted by Julius Rudel), Oronte in Rolf Liebermann's School for Wives, the Elder Ott in the New York premiere of Carlisle Floyd's Susannah (with Phyllis Curtin and Norman Treigle, conducted by Erich Leinsdorf), Alonso in the American premiere of Frank Martin's Der Sturm, Timur in Turandot, Banco in Macbeth, William Jennings Bryan in the New York premiere of Douglas Moore's The Ballad of Baby Doe (with Beverly Sills, directed by Vladimir Rosing), Horace Giddens in the world premiere of Marc Blitzstein's Regina, Farfallo in Die schweigsame Frau, Collatinus in The Rape of Lucretia, the Reverend Olin Blitch in Susannah, Jabez Stone in Douglas Moore's The Devil and Daniel Webster (directed by John Houseman), Tirésias in Oedipus rex (with Richard Cassilly, conducted by Leopold Stokowski), the Police Agent in The Consul (with Patricia Neway and Chester Ludgin, conducted by Werner Torkanowsky), Plutone in L'Orfeo, and Don Alonso in Così fan tutte.