Dooley entered the
University of Rochester in 1950, graduating from there in 1954 with a bachelor's degree in English. During that time he also studied singing as a music minor under
Lucy Lee Callund at the
Eastman School of Music. After graduation he enlisted in the
United States Army, serving in
Munich between 1954 and 1956. During his off duty hours he studied singing with
Viktoria Prestel and
Hedwig Fichtmüller. Dooley made his professional opera debut in 1957 as Posa in
Giuseppe Verdi's
Don Carlos at the
Stadttheater Heidelberg. He spent the next two years performing in operas and concerts throughout Germany. He joined the roster at the
Städtische Bühnen in
Bielefeld in 1959, where he sang regularly for the next three years. While there he notably portrayed the title role in
Marcel Mihalovici's one character opera
Krapp, ou, La dernière bande for its world premiere broadcast on
RTF radio in France on May 15, 1961, its stage premiere at the
Théâtre des Nations the following July 3, and its premiere in Germany at the Städtische Bühnen in February 1962. He was also well known in Germany for his interpretation of the role of Jago in Verdi's
Otello which he sang in Bonn and many other German opera houses and abroad with great success. Dooley returned to the United States in 1964 to become a member of the company at the
Metropolitan Opera in
New York City. He made his debut with the company in the title role of
Eugene Onegin on February 15, 1964, opposite
Leontyne Price as Tatiana. During his time at the Met, Dooley occasionally performed with other companies and at music festivals internationally. In 1964 he made his debut at the
Salzburg Festival as the title hero in Mozart's
Lucio Silla. He returned to
Salzburg two years later to portray the Captain of the Royal Guard in the world premiere of
Hans Werner Henze's
The Bassarids and the role of Escamillo in
Carmen. In 1965 he sang in the world premiere of
Isang Yun's
Der Traum des Liu-Tung at the
Akademie der Künste in
Berlin. Dooley made two appearances with the
Philadelphia Lyric Opera Company in 1968, portraying Wolfram von Eschenbach in Wagner's
Tannhäuser with
Jess Thomas in the title role and Count Almaviva to
Pilar Lorengar's Countess. He also made several appearances at the
Royal Danish Theatre in
Copenhagen during the late 1960s. In 1976 he returned to the Deutsche Oper Berlin to sing in the world premiere of
Toshiro Mayuzumi's
Der Tempelbrand. Dooley made his debut at the
Vienna State Opera in the Fall of 1977. He sang there sporadically for the next six seasons in seven roles. In 1979 he portrayed the role of Pastor Oberlin in the world premiere of
Wolfgang Rihm's
Jakob Lenz at the
Hamburg State Opera. In 1984 he appeared in the world premiere of
Aribert Reimann's
Die Gespenstersonate at the
Deutsche Oper Berlin and in 1989 he sang in the world premiere of
Marc Neikrug's
Los Alamos at the
Los Angeles Opera. In 1991 he portrayed Tiresias in the American premiere of Wolfgang Rihm's
Oedipus at the
Santa Fe Opera, a role he had created in the opera's 1987 premiere in Berlin. Dooley died in
Modesto, California, at age 86 in 2019. ==References==