Cantor Speaks About Life of Opera Star Richard Tucker

Cantor Don Goldberg took North Shore Towers residents back to one of the golden ages of opera when he gave a presentation entitled “Richard Tucker - From Synagogue to Opera Star” on Wednesday, April 16.
“If you were around in the 1940s, ‘50s, and ‘60s…the name Richard Tucker would be familiar to you,” he said. “He was one of the best of that last golden age of the ‘50s and ‘60s.”
Tucker, whose birth name was Ruvin Ticker, was born in Brooklyn on August 28, 1913 and performed in a Jewish choir when he was younger. He fell in love with Sara, the sister of opera singer Jan Peerce.
Goldberg said that Tucker got his first position as a cantor in 1934 in New Jersey. In the late ‘30s, Tucker started singing on the radio station WEVD.
Inspired by his brother-in-law, Goldberg said that Tucker decided he wanted to become an opera singer. Goldberg explained that the Metropolitan Opera was having a problem in the 1940s because the war was preventing European singers from coming over. Because of this, they started auditioning Americans, which is how they came to see Tucker and offer him a role.
In 1964, Goldberg was in the chorus of a Met production of Verdi’s “Rigoletto” while Tucker was in it. During one scene, Goldberg even stood next to Tucker, describing it as a thrill.
“I never saw anyone who worked so hard. He came like a gladiator every night he sang,” Goldberg said. “He was really rested, he knew his stuff and when he went out on that stage he gave you 150 percent all the time, perspiration dripping down. It was a wonder to hear him.”
Goldberg, who played clips of Tucker singing during various stages of his life, said that the opera star learned 18 complete operatic roles within seven years.