John Mc Collum - Early Life and Career 1922-1959

Early Life and Career 1922-1959

Born in Coalinga, California, McCollum first worked as a journalist and magazine publisher before deciding to pursue a singing career. He began studying voice with Mynard Jones in Oakland, California and then moved to New York City in the early 1950s where he became a pupil of Edgar Schofield. He also studied at the Tanglewood Music Center under Boris Goldovsky.

McCollum made his first concert appearance in NYC as the tenor soloist in a production of Felix Mendelssohn's Elijah at the Church of the Ascension in November 1951 with soprano Beverly Wolff and bass-baritone Paul King. In 1952 he tied for first place in the American Theatre Wing's singing contest with soprano Helen Clayton. That same year he made his Carnegie Hall debut singing Prince Vasiliy Ivanovich Shuysky in a concert version of Modest Mussorgsky's Boris Godunov with conductor Dimitri Mitropoulos and the New York Philharmonic. In 1953 he made his first appearance in a staged opera as Fenton in Giuseppe Verdi's Falstaff with Goldovsky's New England Opera Theatre. That same year he made his first appearance with the Boston Symphony Orchestra (BSO) as the tenor soloist in Hector Berlioz's Roméo et Juliette with soprano Jennie Tourel.

During the mid 1950s McCollum was highly busy performing as a concert soloist and performed with some frequency in operas with the New England Opera Theatre (NEOT). He sang frequently with the BSO under conductor Charles Munch, often at the Tanglewood Music Festival, performing works like the role of the evangelist in Bach's Johannes Passion (1956). He was also a regular performer with the Dessoff Choirs under conductor Paul Boepple, performing as a tenor soloist in oratorios like Handel's Messiah (1956) and Handel's Israel in Egypt (1957). One work which he performed with frequency during these years was J.S. Bach's Mass in B Minor, which he first performed in February 1955 with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra under conductor Margaret Hillis. He later performed the work with the BSO at Tanglewood in the summer of 1955 and with the Philadelphia Orchestra at the Bethlehem Bach Festival in 1956. In March 1955 he sang Helenus in a lauded production of Berlioz's Les Troyens with the NEOT opposite Eunice Alberts as Cassandre, Marriquita Moll as Dido, and Arthur Schoep as Aeneas.

The year 1958 proved to be a banner year for McCollum. In April of that year he was the tenor soloist in Haydn's The Creation with sopranos Adele Addison and Louise Natale, baritone Mack Harrell, the New York Philharmonic, and conductor Robert Shaw. Later that month he sang Ferrando in Mozart's Così fan tutte with the Washington Opera Society in Washington, D.C. The following June he made his European debut at the very first Festival dei Due Mondi as Reuel in the world premiere of Lee Hoiby's chamber opera The Scarf with Patricia Neway and Richard Cross. In August he performed the title role in Gioacchino Rossini's Le comte Ory at Tanglewood and in October he performed in Thomas Arne's rarely heard opera Comus with The Little Orchestra Society.

In 1959 McCollum performed Handel's Ode for St. Cecilia's Day with the NYP under conductor Leonard Bernstein. He also returned to Tangelwood to perform with the BSO in Berlioz's Requiem.