Spiro Malas

Spiro Samuel Malas (January 28, 1933 – June 23, 2019) was a Greek-American bass-baritone opera singer, actor, and educator whose career spanned opera, Broadway, television, and academia. Born in Baltimore, Maryland, to Greek immigrants Sam and Lillian Malas, he grew up in a family that operated Duffy's, a restaurant in Baltimore's Southwest neighborhood. He pursued his education at Towson State College in Maryland, and after graduating taught geography for a year while continuing vocal studies at the Peabody Conservatory.

Malas made his operatic debut in Baltimore in 1959, and the following year won the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. In 1961 he performed at the Odeon of Herodes Atticus in Athens as King Alcinous in Peggy Glanville-Hicks' Nausicaa, an opera composed for the Athens Festival. His New York debut came at the New York City Opera, where he sang Spinelloccio in Gianni Schicchi, a performance that brought him to the attention of soprano Joan Sutherland and her husband, conductor Richard Bonynge. His first collaboration with them was Giorgio in I Puritani with Sarah Caldwell's Boston Opera Group, which led to a tour of Australia with the Sutherland/Williamson International Opera Company in 1965. That engagement opened doors to engagements at London's Covent Garden, the Chicago Lyric Opera, and eventually the Metropolitan Opera.

Malas made his Metropolitan Opera debut in 1983 as Sgt. Sulpice in La fille du régiment alongside Dame Joan Sutherland. His subsequent Met appearances included roles in Il barbiere di Siviglia, La bohème, Les contes d'Hoffmann, Die Fledermaus, Eugene Onegin, L'elisir d'amore, Lulu, Manon Lescaut, Der Rosenkavalier, Salome, Tosca, and Werther. He appeared in two new productions directed by Sir Peter Hall, singing Zuniga in Carmen and Dr. Bartolo in Le nozze di Figaro. Additional Met credits included Haly in L'italiana in Algeri opposite Marilyn Horne and Capulet in Roméo et Juliette. Beyond New York, Malas performed leading roles at major opera houses in Rome, Naples, Salzburg, Vienna, Florence, and San Francisco, and recorded extensively with artists including Luciano Pavarotti, Beverly Sills, Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, and Sutherland.

On Broadway, Malas appeared in the 1992 revival of Frank Loesser's musical The Most Happy Fella, playing the immigrant farmer Tony Esposito. The role earned him a Theatre World Award in 1992 and a Drama Desk Award nomination. New York Times theatre critic Frank Rich wrote that in Malas's portrayal, Tony's inner growth and redemption became the very soul of musical drama, particularly as expressed through Loesser's songs.

Malas also maintained a television career, with appearances on Spenser: For Hire, The Equalizer, Ryan's Hope, One Life to Live, Law & Order, and Sex and the City. He served on the faculty of Barnard College and Columbia University, the Manhattan School of Music, and the Curtis Institute of Music. He was a National Patron of Delta Omicron, an international professional music fraternity.

Malas was married to voice teacher Marlena Kleinman Malas, with whom he had two sons, Nicol and Alexis. He died on June 23, 2019, in New York.