This is my--Joseph Shore's--vocal and dramatic presentation of the Last Supper scene and finale of the sacred opera on the life of Jesus called I Am The Way. It was composed by Jerome Hines, one of the greatest Basses of all time. He sang 41 consecutive years at The Metropolitan Opera in leading roles. But he was a man of many talents. He had a degree in chemistry and worked as a chemist for the government during WWII and therefore had a deferment. He completed all requirements for a Master's degree in mathematics except the thesis. He also wrote books, plays, and his major work, an opera based on the life and teachings of Jesus called I Am The Way. He began composing it in the early 1950s encouraged by Albert Haye Malotte, the composer of The Lord's Prayer which is still popular.
Jerry joined the Metropolitan Opera in his early 20's and wondered how he could find a way to perform this sacred opera. Finally he decided to start his own Opera Company from his colleagues at the Met and other opera companies. He found singers interested, people willing to work in an opera company for this goal. Every year since the mid 1950s The Jerome Hines Opera Company would perform the opera in some major city in the United States. The pictures that run through this audio of the last Supper show the men and women of the Jerome Hines Opera Company. People from the Met sang with us, like Ezio Flagello, William Walker, Pablo Elvira, Mildred Miller, Adriana Vanelli and so many more. More would come each year to be a part of the company. In all the company performed the opera 93 times including a performance at the Metropolitan Opera and the Bolshoi Opera in Russia.
I sang two parts: the baritone role of Peter and the Bass role of Eliakim. Jerome Hines worked closely with me on singing his music. He was accompanying me on the piano giving me a coaching. At the end of the aria, he sat at the piano still, with his head bowed and then finally said. "I wish we could have taped that. I have never heard anyone who can sing my music the way you do."
I was happy that my singing so pleased him. Sometime in the 1990's--I don't remember the exact date--he gave me permission to record my singing using the orchestral back track of I Am The Way that Maestro Anshel Brusilow had conducted with the Luxembourg State Symphony. He said to me, "Record whatever you want with it. I want more and more good singers to sing my music." After he died I began to record selections from the opera.
Here I am singing the Last Supper and the finale of the opera. The music is gracious to sing. It is full of long sweeping melodies and powerful statements. Of course Jerry wrote the part for himself and nobody could sing it like he did. But this here is my interpretation of the character of Jesus that Jerry put into music. I hope he likes it! I Am The Way is no longer performed. It was Jerry's wish that the opera die with him. The music was never copyrighted and is guarded to prevent anyone from taking the score and performing it! Personally I think that was a terribly ungracious decision by Jerry to want to control the opera so and kill it off when he died. He was a complicated man. He said to me one day. "I always wondered what my opera could have looked like if a real stage director like Frank Corsaro had gotten a hold of it." We will never know now.