Jess Floyd Thomas was born in Hot Springs, South Dakota.[1] As a child, he took part in various musical activities and studied psychology at the University of Nebraska.[citation needed] For several years, he worked as a high school guidance counselor, before enrolling at Stanford University for an MA.[citation needed] Learning that the operatic department was producing Verdi's Falstaff, he auditioned for Otto Schulmann, the vocal professor, and obtained the role of Fenton.[citation needed] Although by now 27 years old, Thomas decided to change careers and to become a singer.[citation needed] He studied with Schulmann for three years before his operatic debut in 1957.[2] In 1958, he joined the Badisches Staatstheater in Karlsruhe, Germany.[citation needed] He was awarded the Wagner Medal at Bayreuth in 1963.[citation needed] His many appearances in North America and Europe between the late 1950s and early 1980s included fifteen seasons in 109 performances of fifteen roles at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City.[citation needed]
In 1963, Thomas joined the roster of the Metropolitan Opera and went on to sing 109 performances of fifteen roles with the company, including all the major tenor roles of Wagner's work.[3] Among the highlights of his career with the Met was appearing at the opening of the new Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center, in the first performance of Samuel Barber's Antony and Cleopatra with Leontyne Price.[4]
On December 9, 1981, San Francisco Opera general director Kurt Herbert Adler called Thomas an hour before a performance of Die Walküre. Heldentenor James King had lost his voice, and Adler asked Thomas if he would like to sing the role in an hour. "But I haven't even shaved yet", Thomas said. Though he hadn't looked at the score in years, Thomas performed the role at the age of 54, relying on a memory of the role, with some prompting. The next day, headlines proclaimed Thomas's eleventh-hour rescue for Die Walküre.[6][7] Thomas's farewell performance took place in the title role of Parsifal with the Metropolitan Opera in 1982, while it was on tour in Washington, D.C.[citation needed]
In 1997, on request of Thomas's widow, Violeta Thomas, the Austrian sculptor Hortensia Fussy made a portrait of Jess Thomas, showing him as Siegfried with his sword. The sculpture was donated to the Austrian Theatre Museum in 2002.[8]
