John Mc Collum - Later Life and Career 1960-present

Later Life and Career 1960-present

Up to this point in his career, McCollum had mainly been busy performing as a concert singer and had not spent the majority of his time performing in operas. This began to change in early 1960s when he began to perform much more frequently in operas, although his concert career remained active. He performed with companies across North America during the 1960s, including the Opera Company of Boston, the Canadian Opera Company, the Cincinnati Opera, the Seattle Opera, the Washington National Opera, and Vancouver Opera among others. He sang four roles with the Santa Fe Opera during the 1962 summer season: Ferrando, the second tenor in Igor Stravinsky's Renard, The Fisherman in Stravinsky's The Nightingale, and Alfredo in La traviata. He remained active with the BSO during the 1960s, performing in concerts of Berlioz's La damnation de Faust and Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 among others.

The year 1963 was an important year for McCollum's opera life. He began the year singing Licinius in Gaspare Spontini's rarely heard opera La Vestale for his debut with the American Opera Society at Carnegie Hall. This was followed by an offer from Julius Rudel, then director of the NYCO, to join the roster of principal tenors at his company. McCollum accepted and made his debut with the company in October 1963 as Don Ottavio in Mozart's Don Giovanni. Then in December he recorded the role of King Kaspar in Gian Carlo Menotti's Amahl and the Night Visitors in a television profuction made by the N.B.C. Opera Company. He returned for one more opera with the NYCO in 1964, the world premiere of Lee Hoiby's Natalia Petrovna.

After the 1960s McCollum's career began to slow down. He appeared mostly in concerts during the early 1970s and did not perform much after the mid 1970s. He taught for many years on the voice faculty of the University of Michigan. He is currently living in retirement.