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Jess Thomas (August 4, 1927 – October 11, 1993) was an American operatic tenor, best known for singing the works of Richard Wagner.
At Bayreuth, he established his reputation as a Wagnerian tenor, performing in the following roles and operas:
In 1963, Thomas joined the roster of the Metropolitan Opera and went on to sing 109 performances of fifteen roles with the company, including all the major tenor roles of Wagner's work. Among the highlights of his career with the Met was appearing at the opening of the new Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center, in the first performance of Samuel Barber's Antony and Cleopatra with Leontyne Price. He was awarded the Wagner Medal at Bayreuth in 1963.
In 1970, at the 12th Annual Grammy Awards, Thomas won a Grammy Award for Best Opera Recording for his performance of Richard Wagner Siegfried, with the Berlin Philharmonic.
On December 9, 1981, San Francisco Opera general director Kurt Herbert Adler called Thomas an hour before a performance of Die Walküre. Heldentenor James King had lost his voice, and Adler asked Thomas if he would like to sing the role in an hour. "But I haven't even shaved yet", Thomas said. Though he hadn't looked at the score in years, Thomas performed the role at the age of 54, relying on a memory of the role, with some prompting. The next day, headlines proclaimed Thomas's eleventh-hour rescue for Die Walküre. Thomas's farewell performance took place in the title role of Parsifal with the Metropolitan Opera in 1982, while it was on tour in Washington, D.C.
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