John Lankston

John Lankston (May 29, 1934 – July 12, 2018) was an American tenor and actor born in Bridgeport, Illinois, the son of Jason Lankston. He graduated from Bridgeport High School in 1952 and subsequently studied music at Vincennes University, completing his degree in 1954. He then pursued opera training at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, where he also studied ballet and modern dance. In 1958 he relocated to New York City, launching a career that spanned Broadway, opera, and television from the 1950s through the 2000s.

Lankston made his Broadway debut in the chorus of Redhead (1959), the musical by Albert Hague and Dorothy Fields starring Gwen Verdon, during which he eventually replaced William LeMassena in the role of Howard Cavanaugh. In 1961 he created the role of Lord Delmore in the original Broadway production of Kean, the operetta by Robert Wright and George Forrest, which ran for 92 performances at the Broadway Theatre on 53rd Street. Two years later he portrayed Louis in the New York City Center revival of Pal Joey, starring Bob Fosse. Also in 1963, Lankston created the roles of Adolph and the Ziegfeld Tenor in Jule Styne's Funny Girl, serving as featured tenor alongside Barbra Streisand in the number "His Love Makes Me Beautiful." For his contribution to the cast recording, he and the principal cast received the Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album at the 7th Annual Grammy Awards.

Following the close of Funny Girl, Lankston pursued additional opera studies in Germany before joining the New York City Opera in 1966, making his debut with the company as Pedrillo in Mozart's The Abduction from the Seraglio. He subsequently filmed that role for Peter Herman Adler's National Educational Television Opera on the NET network. Lankston remained with the NYCO for 35 years, performing his final appearance with the company as Ko-Ko in Gilbert and Sullivan's The Mikado in 2001, a role he had also performed there in 1984.

Throughout his tenure at the NYCO, Lankston took on a wide range of supporting and leading roles, frequently appearing in comedic character parts and villainous figures. Among his more substantial assignments were the Prologue in Benjamin Britten's The Turn of the Screw, which he performed in 1970, 1971, 1972, 1975, and 1978; Arbace in Mozart's Idomeneo in 1974 and 1975; Eisenstein in Johann Strauss II's Die Fledermaus in 1976 and 1986; the Devil in Stravinsky's L'Histoire du soldat in 1977; Officer Olim in Kurt Weill's Silverlake: A Winter's Tale in 1980; Monostatos in Mozart's The Magic Flute in 1985 and 1992; and Torquemada in Maurice Ravel's L'heure espagnole in 1990 and 1999. In 1976 he took the title role in the United States premiere of Josef Tal's Ashmedai, a part that drew on both his vocal and dance training.

Lankston participated in several world premieres at the NYCO, including Major Mark Lyon in Hugo Weisgall's Nine Rivers from Jordan (1968), Professor Clement in Gian Carlo Menotti's The Most Important Man (1971), Bentley Drummle in Dominick Argento's Miss Havisham's Fire (1979), and Dr. Sokolsky in Jay Reise's Rasputin (1988). He also appeared in the United States premiere of Leoš Janáček's From the House of the Dead in 1989, portraying Šapkin, and performed Anfinomo in the United States premiere of Monteverdi's Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria with the Washington National Opera in 1974.

His most celebrated work with the NYCO came in the 1982 revival of Leonard Bernstein's Candide, directed by Hal Prince, in which he created the quintuple role of Voltaire, Pangloss, Businessman, Governor, and Gambler. The production was filmed for national broadcast on PBS's Live from Lincoln Center, and the subsequent cast recording earned Lankston and his fellow artists the Grammy Award for Best Opera Recording in 1987. He also appeared on PBS's Live from Lincoln Center in 1983, portraying the Schoolmaster in Janáček's The Cunning Little Vixen. In 1984 he starred in the American premiere of Harrison Birtwistle's Down by the Greenwood Side with the New York Philharmonic, and in 1985 he portrayed Loge in Richard Wagner's Das Rheingold at the Earl W. Brydges Artpark State Park under conductor Christopher Keene.

Lankston died on July 12, 2018, in Bridgeport, Illinois, at the age of 84.