Thomas Hampson/David Alpher

Thomas Hampson possesses one of the most rich and mellow baritone voices of the postwar generations, complete with ringing top notes. His quick musical intelligence enables him not only to sing a vast and varied repertoire in song, lieder, oratorio, musical theater, operetta, and opera, but to write most of his own (very scholarly) program notes, and in addition to all that, was listed by People magazine in 1993 as one of the 50 most beautiful people in the world. Like his friend and frequent musical associate, Jerry Hadley, he is an avid student of history and in preparing li...