International opera star and Centerville native Simon Estes retired from the stage in 2022, but he’s still working as an artist in residence at Iowa State University.
Estes will turn 87 in March and he’s spending about three weeks a semester on the Ames campus, teaching private lessons with voice majors in the building that bears his name. The Simon Estes Music Hall was dedicated in 2020 and ISU President Wendy Wintersteen helped with the unveiling:
“Simon Estes is undoubtedly one of the most accomplished opera singers in the world. He has sung for U.S. presidents, for popes, for kings and queens,” Wintersteen says, “and as one of the first black opera singers, he helped break down racial barriers.”
At the building’s opening, Estes said it was an incredible tribute to his near-six-decades-long career.
“Music and education and faith are the foundations on which my life has been built, and I’m still on that journey,” Estes says. “I didn’t know that the day would come and that you’d name a building after me, but you know, this building is named after me, but it’s not for me. It’s about me, and it’s about all of you young people.”
The son of a coal miner and the grandson of a slave, Estes says his philanthropic work is just as important in his life as music. He’s given hundreds of thousands of dollars in scholarships to students in need, and built a music school in South Africa.
Upon announcing his retirement at age 84, he told Iowa Public Radio most opera singers retire at 50 or 60.
“I really thank God that he’s given me this longevity not only in life, but having sung opera,” Estes says. “I made my debut in West Berlin in 1965.”
Opera requires substantial strength in the singer’s core to control breathing and project the voice. Estes says there are some key reasons he was able to continue performing into his 80s.
“First of all, I think God gave me very special vocal cords or vocal folds, as the doctor’s say,” Estes says “I never smoked. I didn’t drink alcohol. I didn’t take any drugs, of course. I was very disciplined, always. I only sang the right repertoire at the right time in my life.”
Estes is a graduate of the University of Iowa and the Juilliard School of Music. He has performed more than 100 roles with 84 major opera companies around the globe.