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Paul Frey (born April 20, 1941) is a Canadian heldentenor, internationally known for his performances in the operas of Richard Wagner. He has performed many times at the Bayreuth Festival and the Metropolitan Opera. He can be heard on CD and seen on DVD.
Paul Frey was born in Heidelberg, Ontario. He is of Mennonite background. [1] In the early 1960s he sang in a male quartet in his home town and in the Schneider Male Chorus in Kitchener, Ont, whose director Paul Berg encouraged him to take voice lessons. He was a professional hockey player [2] and owned a trucking business. [1] He trained his voice at the University of Toronto Opera School as the first recipient of the Edward Johnson Scholarship.
In 1978 Frey was engaged at the Stadttheater Basel where he sang the lead roles in Werther (his debut), Fidelio , and The Bartered Bride . He was engaged in February 1986 to substitute for Peter Hofmann in the title role of Lohengrin at Mannheim. [3] Wolfgang Wagner heard the acclaimed performance and signed Frey to sing at the Bayreuth Festival, where he debuted in 1987 as Lohengrin (later broadcast by the CBC) and reprised the role in 1988 under conductor Peter Schneider and stage director Werner Herzog. After his Bayreuth debut, he performed at most of the major European opera houses, especially as Wagner's Lohengrin, Parsifal, Erik, and Walther von Stolzing, although he has sung a wide variety of lyric and heldentenor roles, including the title role in Britten's Peter Grimes , Aeneas in Berlioz' Les Troyens , Tamino in The Magic Flute , Titus in La Clemenza di Tito , and Corrado in Verdi's Il Corsaro; he is also renowned as Florestan in Fidelio and Max in Der Freischütz . [1] He made his debut at the Metropolitan Opera in New York in 1987 as Bacchus in Ariadne auf Naxos . [1]
He can be seen on DVD as Walther von Stolzing (from the Australian Opera) and as Lohengrin (from Bayreuth).
Lauritz Melchior was a Danish-American opera singer. He was the preeminent Wagnerian heldentenor of the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s and has come to be considered the quintessence of his voice type. Late in his career, Melchior appeared in movie musicals and on radio and television. He also made numerous recordings.
Thomas Bernard Heppner is a renowned Canadian tenor and broadcaster, now retired from singing, who specialized in opera and other classical works for voice.
James King was an American operatic tenor who had an active international singing career in operas and concerts from the 1950s through 2000. Widely regarded as one of the finest American heldentenors of the post-war period, he excelled in performances of the works of Richard Wagner and Richard Strauss.
René Kollo is a German operatic tenor, especially known for his Wagnerian Heldentenor roles. He also performed a wide variety of operas and operettas, and made several recordings.
Max Lorenz was a German heldentenor famous for Wagnerian roles.
Siegfried Jerusalem is a German operatic tenor. Closely identified with the heldentenor roles of Richard Wagner, he has performed Siegfried, Siegmund, Lohengrin, Parsifal, and Tristan to wide acclaim. Since the 1990s, he has focused on lieder, particularly those by Strauss, Mahler and Schumann.
Wolfgang Windgassen was a German heldentenor internationally known for his performances in Wagner operas.
Ludwig Suthaus was a German operatic heldentenor.
Günther Treptow was a German operatic tenor, best known for Wagner roles.
Erik Anton Julius Schmedes was an operatic tenor, particularly known for his roles in operas by Richard Wagner. He was a brother-in-law by marriage of Vaslav Nijinsky.
Peter Hofmann was a German tenor who had a successful performance career within the fields of opera, rock, pop, and musical theatre. He first rose to prominence as a heldentenor at the Bayreuth festival's Jahrhundertring in 1976, where he drew critical acclaim for his performance of Siegmund in Richard Wagner's Die Walküre. He was active as one of the world's leading Wagnerian tenors over the next decade, performing roles like Lohengrin, Parsifal, Siegmund and Tristan at major opera houses and festivals internationally.
Bernd Aldenhoff was a German Heldentenor.
Sándor Kónya was a Hungarian tenor, particularly associated with German and Italian roles, especially Lohengrin and Calaf.
Reiner Goldberg was a German operatic heldentenor who made an international career performing and recording. He appeared at the Berlin State Opera from 1972, and was a member of the ensemble from 1981. Goldberg achieved attention when he sang the role of Wagner's Parsifal for a 1982 opera film directed by Hans-Jürgen Syberberg. He then became known for performing the tenor roles of Wagner's stage works in leading opera houses in Europe and worldwide, such as the Bayreuth Festival where he appeared from 1986 as Tannhäuser, Stolzing in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, Siegfried in both Siegfried and Götterdämmerung, and Erik in Der fliegende Holländer. He performed at the Metropolitan Opera as Siegfried, conducted by James Levine and alongside Hildegard Behrens as Brünnhilde, resulting in a recording that won a Grammy Award.
Ekkehard Wlaschiha was a German operatic baritone who specialized in Wagnerian "villains", such as Alberich, Klingsor and Friedrich von Telramund. He performed at the Bayreuth Festival and at the Metropolitan Opera, and left many recordings.
Hans Beirer was an Austrian tenor. In his early career he worked as a lyric tenor but as he aged his voice developed into Heldentenor which enabled him to become a celebrated performer in the operas of Richard Wagner. He was a resident artist of the Deutsche Oper Berlin for more than forty years. He also concurrently worked as a resident artist at the Hamburg State Opera (1958) and Vienna State Opera (1962-1987), and made numerous appearances as a guest artist at opera houses internationally, including La Scala, the Paris Opera, the Royal Opera House in London, the Teatro Colón, La Monnaie, the New York City Opera, and the Bayreuth Festival among others.
Hermann Winkelmann was a German Heldentenor, notable for creating the title role in Richard Wagner's Parsifal in 1882.
Jean Cox was an American tenor.
Gerd Brenneis was a German operatic tenor who had an active international career from the late 1950s through the 1990s. Known for his interpretations of the works of Richard Wagner, he worked as a principal artist at many of the world's great opera houses, including the Deutsche Oper Berlin, La Scala, the Metropolitan Opera, and the Vienna State Opera.
Ronald Hamilton is an American tenor who was born in Hamilton, Ohio, to a musical family. He began studying medicine, but decided on a singing career.
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