Jan Peerce

Jan Peerce, born Jacob Pincus Perelmuth on June 3, 1904, on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, was an American operatic tenor who performed on the operatic and Broadway stages, in solo recitals, and as a recording artist. His parents, Levi and Henya Perelmuth, emigrated from the village of Horodetz, then part of Poland and now Belarus, arriving in America in 1903. Peerce attended DeWitt Clinton High School and Columbia University, and at his mother's urging studied violin, performing publicly in dance bands under the name Jack "Pinky" Pearl. It was during these early performances that his abilities as a lyric tenor were recognized.

Peerce studied voice in New York City with Giuseppe Boghetti. In 1932, impresario Roxy hired him as a tenor soloist at Radio City Music Hall, initially renaming him John Pierce before settling on the spelling Jan Peerce, which the singer felt better reflected his ethnic background. Radio broadcasts through the Radio City Music Hall of the Air gave Peerce a nationwide following. Conductor Arturo Toscanini, having heard Peerce singing Wagner on the radio, arranged an audition through a mutual friend and subsequently engaged him to perform operatic and choral works with the NBC Symphony Orchestra. Toscanini was noted to be pleased with Peerce's professionalism, his musical abilities, and his naturally idiomatic Italian pronunciation. Their first public collaboration took place on February 6, 1938, at Carnegie Hall in an NBC broadcast of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, alongside soprano Vina Bovy, mezzo-soprano Kerstin Thorborg, and bass Ezio Pinza.

That same year, Peerce joined the Philadelphia La Scala Opera Company, making his professional opera debut on December 10, 1938, as the Duke of Mantua in Verdi's Rigoletto, with Robert Weede in the title role and Fritz Mahler conducting. He also sang Alfredo in La traviata and Pinkerton in Puccini's Madama Butterfly with the company through 1941. On October 8, 1939, he created the role of Diego Columbus in the world premiere of Eugene Zador's opera Christopher Columbus at the Center Theatre, and in November of that year gave his first solo recital in New York City. His Metropolitan Opera debut followed on November 29, 1941, when he sang Alfredo in Verdi's La traviata. At the Met he also performed Cavaradossi in Puccini's Tosca, Rodolfo in La bohème, and roles in Gounod's Faust, remaining on the company's roster until 1966 and returning again in the 1966–1967 season.

In December 1943, Peerce appeared alongside Toscanini and the NBC Symphony Orchestra in the OWI film Hymn of the Nations, a performance of Verdi's cantata filmed in NBC Studio 8-H and later released on LP, CD, and DVD. In 1944 he sang in the Madison Square Garden concert featuring the final act of Rigoletto with Leonard Warren, Zinka Milanov, and Toscanini conducting the combined New York Philharmonic and NBC Symphony Orchestra, a performance recorded and released by RCA Victor. During the 1950s, Peerce performed regularly as a featured soloist at the Lewisohn Stadium in New York City before audiences exceeding 14,000, appearing alongside Richard Tucker, Robert Merrill, and Eileen Farrell under conductor Alfredo Antonini. In 1952 he participated in Toscanini's only approved studio recording of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony for RCA Victor, having previously sung the tenor part in Toscanini's 1938 broadcast of the same work. In 1956, Peerce became the first American to sing with the Bolshoi Opera in Moscow, appearing as a cultural exchange ambassador.

Peerce recorded almost exclusively for RCA Victor as a Red Seal artist from the late 1930s through the early 1960s. His earliest recordings, made in 1931 and 1932 as a vocalist with New York area dance bands under the names Jack Pearl and Pinky Pearl, included popular songs such as "Snuggled on Your Shoulder" and "Dancing on the Ceiling," issued on labels including Crown, Perfect, Banner, and Melotone. Among his RCA Victor recordings were Verdi's Rigoletto in 1950 with Leonard Warren and Erna Berger, as well as complete opera recordings made with Toscanini including La traviata and La bohème, both featuring Licia Albanese, and Verdi's Un ballo in maschera with Herva Nelli.

In 1971, Peerce made his Broadway debut originating the role of Tevye in Fiddler on the Roof, a production associated with his 1964 Broadway credit. He continued performing until his retirement in 1982, with his final concert taking place on May 2 of that year as guest artist with the Beth Abraham Youth Chorale in Dayton, Ohio. Peerce also taught a master class during his later career years.

In his personal life, Peerce married Alice Kalmanovitz, a childhood friend, in 1930, and the couple remained married for 54 years until his death. His sister Sara Perelmuth married tenor Richard Tucker in 1936, making Peerce and Tucker brothers-in-law. Peerce is the father of film director Larry Peerce. He died on December 15, 1984, at his home in New Rochelle, New York, at the age of 80, and is interred at Mount Eden Cemetery in Valhalla, Westchester County.