Elliot Palay secured himself a place in opera history when, at the age of twenty- five, he became the youngest man to have embodied both vocally and dramatically the character of Tristan. The production of Tristan und Isolde in Lübeck, Germany was done under the direction of Wolf-Siegfried Wagner, the great-grandson of Richard Wagner.

Since then Mr. Palay has appeared with the Hamburg Staatsoper, the Deutsche Oper am Rhein, the Komische Oper of Berlin (East), the Dresden Staatsoper, the Grand Theatre of Geneva, the Deutsche Oper of Berlin (West), the Vienna Staatsoper, the Bavarian Staatsoper, the Flanders Royal Opera, the New York City Opera, the Danish National Opera, the Pacific Northwest Wagner Festival, the Los Angeles Music Center Opera, along with many other opera companies and orchestras throughout Europe and the United States.

The principal of Musiktheater, as developed by the late Walter Felsenstein of the Komische Oper of Berlin, forms the nucleus of Elliot Palay's operatic portrayals. Mr. Palay performed the role of Paul Ackermann (Jim Mahoney) in Joachim Herz's internationally acclaimed production of The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny at the Komische Oper. Because of Mr. Palay's firm belief in the concept of opera as drama, his repertoire consists mainly of works by Wagner, R. Strauss, Verdi, Berg, Janacek, Leoncavallo, and Tschaikowski.

Mr. Palay's debut as Siegfried with Seattle's Pacific Northwest Wagner Festival in the summer of 1981 prompted the "Seattle Times" to write, "never has there been a Seattle Siegfried so compelling, so right for the role in every respect". This was reinforced when Mr. Palay repeated his Siegfried in Germany and in Denmark. Writing in "Opera", Elizabeth Forbes said, "Elliot Palay's tall, personable Siegfried found plenty of power for forging the sword, lyricism for the forest scene, and finally passion for the love duet, as well as a couple of ringing high C's at the end of Götterdämmerung."

Even Mr. Palay's almost cameo appearance as the Russian Singer in Fiddler on the Roof at the Theater des Westens in West Berlin brought critical acclaim as reviewed in "Orpheus" opera magazine with the simple statement, "Elliot Palay - splendid! Both vocally and in appearance".

Mr. Palay has also served as a member of the vocal faculty at the United States International University in San Diego, and as a resident member of the Los Angeles Music Center Opera where he has often served as the "cover" for Mr. Placido Domingo.

Mr. Palay has most recently performed the title role of in Verdi's Otello with the Anhaltisches Theater in Dessau and the role of Don Juan in the world premier production of the opera Flammen by Erwin Schulhof with the Leipzig Opera in Germany.