Peter Sliker

Peter Sliker (June 7, 1925 – June 25, 2010) was an American operatic bass-baritone born in Jersey City, New Jersey, to Harry and Ella Sliker. He is recognized for a Broadway appearance in 1958 in Transposed Heads and for a career at the Metropolitan Opera spanning from 1961 to 1989, during which he accumulated 509 appearances in comprimario and character roles.

Sliker began engaging with music at an early age, singing on local radio programs by the age of seven. After completing his secondary education at Henry Snyder High School, he enlisted in the United States Navy in 1942 and served during World War II on the Murmansk Run in the northern Atlantic Ocean. Following the war, he pursued academic studies at Rutgers University and then Harvard University, graduating Phi Beta Kappa with a bachelor's degree in languages in 1950. Concurrently, he studied at the New England Conservatory, earning a bachelor's degree in vocal performance in 1951. He subsequently spent a year in Cuba to further develop his language skills, by which point he had mastered six languages. During this period he also worked as a purser for the United States Lines shipping company, serving aboard the SS United States when it set the trans-Atlantic speed record on July 4, 1952. In 1948 he married Myra Warren, from whom he later divorced.

Sliker made his Carnegie Hall debut in 1958 in a sold-out concert of Bach chamber music, performing the cantata Tritt auf die Glaubensbahn, BWV 152 under conductor Václav Nelhýbel. That same year he appeared on Broadway in Transposed Heads. On March 7, 1959, he returned to Carnegie Hall for his New York City recital debut, presenting a program of works by Bach, Joseph Haydn, and Johann Rosenmüller. Also in 1959, he joined the New York City Opera, where he performed comprimario roles through 1961. Among his notable engagements there, he portrayed one of the Seven Deadly Sins in the world premiere of Hugo Weisgall's Six Characters in Search of an Author on April 26, 1959, and participated in the 1959 production and cast recording of Douglas Moore's The Ballad of Baby Doe, which featured Beverly Sills in the title role. In 1960 he served as a soloist in a performance of Mozart's Litaniae de venerabili altaris sacramento with the Boston Symphony Orchestra under conductor Hugh Ross at the Tanglewood Music Festival.

Rudolf Bing invited Sliker to join the Metropolitan Opera roster in 1961, and he made his company debut on November 29 of that year as one of the noblemen in Wagner's Lohengrin, a cast that included Sándor Kónya in the title role, Ingrid Bjoner as Elsa, Margaret Harshaw as Ortrud, Randolph Symonette as Telramund, and Jerome Hines as King Heinrich, with Joseph Rosenstock conducting. He went on to appear annually at the Met through 1989, taking on a wide range of character roles including Ambrogio in The Barber of Seville, a Croupier in Manon, the Gardener in La traviata, the Guard in Rigoletto, Handsome in La Fanciulla del West, Jankel in Arabella, a Lackey in Der Rosenkavalier, the Sergeant in La Bohème, the Steersman in La Gioconda, and a Villager in Pagliacci. On September 16, 1966, he appeared as the Sentinel in the world premiere of Samuel Barber's Antony and Cleopatra, the production that inaugurated the new Metropolitan Opera House, with Leontyne Price as Cleopatra and Justino Díaz as Antony. On March 18, 1977, he sang the Physician in the Met's first staging of Alban Berg's Lulu, with Carole Farley in the title role. His 509th and final Met appearance came on December 16, 1989, when he sang Guccio in Puccini's Gianni Schicchi, a performance featuring Bruno Pola in the title role, Hei-Kyung Hong as Lauretta, and James Levine conducting. Throughout his Met tenure he also appeared on Live from the Metropolitan Opera broadcasts and Metropolitan Opera radio broadcasts.

In retirement Sliker lived at the Waterford retirement community in Helena, Montana. His last public performance took place in Helena during the mid-1990s at a benefit concert held at the Myrna Loy Center for the Performing and Media Arts. He died in Helena at the age of 86 and is buried at the Lower Valley Union Cemetery in Califon, New Jersey.