The tenor Blake Stern was born in Iowa in 1917. In 1940 he earned a bachelor's degree from Grinnell College. He served in the Navy during World War II, and then continued his education at the Juilliard School, where he studied with Julius Herford and Mack Harrell, receiving the M.S. in 1950. After teaching at the University of Minnesota, he joined the faculty of the Yale School of Music in 1955; he remained there for 32 years. Stern was best known as an oratorio singer. He performed with many leading orchestras and conductors in America and around the world. He died Logan, Iowa on December 22, 1987, just six months after his retirement from Yale.
From the guide to the The Blake Stern Papers, 1938-1985, (Irving S. Gilmore Music Library, Yale University)
