The son of Greek immigrants Sam and Lillian Malas, he was born in Baltimore, MD January 28, 1933. The family owned Duffy's, a restaurant in Baltimore's Southwest neighborhood.[1] He attended Towson State College in Maryland and taught geography for a year after graduation while continuing his vocal training at Peabody Conservatory.[2] He made his operatic debut in 1959 in his native Baltimore and in 1960 he won the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. In 1961 he appeared at the Odeon of Herodes Atticus as King Alcinous in Peggy Glanville-Hicks' Nausicaa, an opera written for the Athens Festival.[3] He made his New York debut at the New York City Opera as Spinelloccio in Gianni Schicchi. This way he came to the attention of Joan Sutherland and her husband, the conductor Richard Bonynge. Giorgio in I Puritani was his first collaboration with them and Sarah Caldwell's Boston Opera Group;[4] he was subsequently asked to tour Australia with the Sutherland/Williamson International Opera Company in 1965. This led to appearances at London's Covent Garden, the New York Metropolitan Opera (1983–84) and Chicago Lyric Opera.
He sang leading roles in the major opera houses in Rome, Naples, Salzburg, Vienna, Florence and San Francisco.[5] He has also appeared in televised opera, with leading symphony orchestras, and recorded the operatic repertoire with notables such as Luciano Pavarotti, Beverly Sills, Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, and Sutherland.
