Born and raised in
Brooklyn, New York, Renan studied voice under
Eleanor McLellan and
John Daggett Howell in
New York City. Early on in his career he portrayed the Sacristan in the NYCO's inaugural opera production, Puccini's
Tosca, on 21 February 1944. He went on to sing more than thirty-two more roles with the company over the next fifteen years, mostly in
buffo parts. He sang in many twentieth century operas at the NYCO, including the world premieres of
David Tamkin's
The Dybbuk (as Meyer, 1951) and
Robert Kurka's
The Good Soldier Schweik (as the Army doctor, 1958). He also portrayed Baron Regnard in the premiere of the revised version of
Robert Ward's
He Who Gets Slapped (1959). Some of his other roles with the company included Beckmesser in Wagner's
Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, the Principál komediantů in
The Bartered Bride, and Oscar Hubbard in
Regina Renan also sang with other opera companies throughout North America during his career, including the
American Opera Company, the
Baltimore Opera Company, the
Opera Company of Boston, the
Canadian Opera Company, the
Columbia Opera Company, the
Chicago Opera Company, the
Houston Grand Opera,
Miami Opera, the
NBC Opera Theatre, the
New Orleans Opera,
Opéra de Montréal, the
Palacio de Bellas Artes, the
Pittsburgh Opera, the
San Antonio Grand Opera Festival, and the
Vancouver Opera. After retiring from the stage in the early 1960s, Renan taught for many years on the voice faculty at the
Juilliard School and worked as a stage director. For the NYCO he directed two productions in 1965,
Carmen and
I Pagliacci. He died in
Englewood, New Jersey at the age of 88. ==References==