William Dooley

William Dooley (born September 9, 1932, Modesto, California) is an American operatic bass-baritone who has sung with many of the world's greatest opera companies. He began his career in Germany in the late 1950s, ultimately becoming a leading performer at the Deutsche Oper Berlin from 1962 to 1964. He then embarked on a highly successful career at the Metropolitan Opera where he sang regularly between 1964 and 1977. Between 1977 and 1982 he sang regularly at the Vienna State Opera, after which he remained active as a freelance artist on the international stage through the early 1990s.

Dooley possessed a rich, deep, and warm voice that had a considerable amount of dramatic power and a wide vocal range. In his prime singing years he particularly excelled within the operas of Richard Wagner and Richard Strauss. Although primarily an exponent of German opera, his repertoire spanned a wide range of languages from French and Italian to Russian and even, in the case of the opera Montezuma, Aztec, Spanish and Latin. He sang in numerous world premieres throughout his career, including Hans Werner Henze's The Bassarids.

Dooley entered the University of Rochester in 1950, graduating from there in 1954 with a Bachelor's degree in English. During that time he also studied singing as a music minor under Lucy Lee Callund at the Eastman School of Music. After graduation he enlisted in the United States Army, serving in Munich between 1954 and 1956. During his off duty hours he studied singing with Viktoria Prestel and Hedwig Fichtmüller.

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