Leonard Treash [SEP] voice type
Leonard Treash
Leonard Treash (January 1, 1909 in Pennsylvania - January 31, 1996 in Rochester, New York) was an American bass, opera director, and educator. As a performer he sang leading opera roles throughout the United States under such conductors as Fritz Reiner, Leopold Stokowski, Artur Rodzinski, and Erich Leinsdorf. He was particularly active as a performer with opera companies in Philadelphia, and is especially remembered as the long time director of the opera program at the Eastman School of Music, a post he held
Deems Taylor's "Ramuntcho" with Sylvan Levin's Philadelphia Opera Company.
Outside of Philadelphia, Treash also worked as a guest artist with important orchestras like the Cleveland Orchestra and sang with regional American opera companies like the Cincinnati Opera. He notably portrayed Swallow in the historic American premiere of Benjamin Britten's "Peter Grimes" at the Tanglewood Music Festival under conductor Leonard Bernstein in 1946.
In 1943 Treash was appointed chair of the vocal music program at Baldwin Wallace University where he notably founded the school's opera theatre program