During my career, I have used my voice in all media except Rap and Rock & Roll.  There have been performances in Musical Comedy, the St. Louis Muny Opera, Folk Music, Pop, Voice-Over commercials, Jingles, Straw hat Theatre Circuit, Off-Broadway, Reform Jewish Synagogues, Christian Worship and even more.  At age six, I was singing at Holy Cross Lutheran Church in St. Louis.

St. Louis is my native city.  My music training started early with private violin and voice lessons and continued with serious vocal study and opera-workshop performances at Washington University.  From 1959-1962, I studied opera and voice at Indiana University, which led to a Fulbright Study Grant at the Rome Opera House, Rome, Italy.

Kitty Carlisle Hart, Jay Willoughby 1983

After numerous detours, I moved to New York City and became a roving opera singer, performing leading roles with regional opera companies from Maine to Hawaii.  Some of these companies were the Seattle Opera, Hawaii Opera, Greater Miami Opera, Opera Company of Boston with Sarah Caldwell, Opera Theatre of St. Louis, The Nashville Opera (not the Grand Old Opry), tours with Boris Goldovsky Opera Theatre, tours with the Eastern Opera Theatre, and contracts with the New York City Opera.

The role of Rigoletto was my favorite and I performed it many times not only in Italian, but also in four different English translations.  Also in my repertoire were the villainous roles of Scarpia in Tosca, Count DiLuna in Il Trovatore, Iago in Othello, the Duke of Ashton in Lucia di Lammermoor, and the four villains in The Tales of Hoffman.

 
Jay, Villian in Rigaletto

Special memories are of two world premieres:

First, the role of Brigham Young in the opera Deseret by Leonard Kastle in a version which was narrated by Kitty Carlisle Hart and broadcast over the Southeastern Educational T/V Network. 

Secondly, the role of the Old Massa in the opera Harriet Tubman produced by the Virginia Opera. 

Harriet Tubman was written by the English composer, Thea Musgrave, and the world premiere performance was broadcast live over the British Broadcast Co., the Canadian Broadcast Co., and the U.S.  Public Radio Network, and independent radio stations in Ireland, Scotland, and locations in Africa.

Some of my touring was under the auspices of Community Concerts, a division of Columbia Artists Management in New York City.  I performed classical vocal recitals in various parts of the country.

Sheri Greenawald as "Violetta" and Jay Willoughby as
 "Georgio Germont" in the Opera Theater of St. Louis "La Traviata" in 1979

Photo by Des Gates
Jay Willoughby as Dapertutto in "The Tales of Hoffman", Miami Opera.

Photo by Chris Bennion
Jay Willoughby as Amonasro" in Aida, Seattle Opera with Martina Arroyo

While living in New York City I appeared as a featured soloist in Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center, also the venerable Town Hall, and at the famed Carnegie Hall, where I performed as a featured soloist with the St. Cecilia Chorus and Orchestra in Handel's Israel in Egypt.  

I made one tour to Southeast Asia during the U.S. Bicentennial period and performed in numerous cities in the Philippine Islands; Singapore; the cities of Taipei and Taichung in Taiwan; Seoul, Korea and Hong Kong.  I sang American songs and spirituals selected from the 1700s to the present including 20th-century songs of Charles Ives, William Schumann, Carlisle Floyd, Leonard Bernstein, etc. 

I appeared as a featured soloist with the San Francisco and St. Louis Symphony orchestras.   

I recorded for Epic Records (as a soloist on a recording of American songs of the 1890s); for Nonesuch Records (with the Gregg Smith singers performing contemporary one-act operas); with Lovegum records (a solo recording of religious songs), and as a soloist on a recording of Lukas Foss’ mini-opera Introductions and Goodbyes.  Composers Recordings, Inc. of New York City produced this CD.  

Since returning to St. Louis, I have been active in furthering interracial dialogue and support the memory and mission of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.  I participate each year in the MLK, Jr. celebrations coincident with his birthday in January.  Also, I am a volunteer and soloist with the Bach at the Sem series, performed by The American Kantorei founded by Dr. Robert Bergt.