Alberto Remedios

Alberto Remedios CBE (27 February 1935 – 11 June 2016)^[1]) was a British operatic tenor, especially noted for his interpretations of Wagner's heldentenor roles.^[2]

Remedios was born in Liverpool and began his working life as a shipyard welder, but studied singing with Edwin Francis, who also taught Rita Hunter, and then at the Royal College of Music under Clive Carey. He sang a wide variety of roles with the Sadler's Wells Opera—the forerunner of English National Opera—including Alfredo in La traviata, the title role in Gounod's Faust, Samson in Saint-Saëns' Samson and Delilah, Bacchus in Ariadne auf Naxos and Max in Der Freischütz.

He is especially remembered for his performances in Wagner, especially as Siegfried in the Glen Byam Shaw production of The Ring, conducted by Reginald Goodall. He was the first English tenor to sing Siegfried at Covent Garden since Walter Widdop in the 1930s.^[1] These performances were recorded in 1973, preserving Remedios' partnerships with Norman Bailey as Wotan and Rita Hunter as Brünnhilde.^[3] He was also memorable as Walther von Stolzing in the ground-breaking 1968 Sadler's Wells The Mastersingers of Nuremberg, also conducted by Reginald Goodall.^[4]

Most remarkable of all was the occasion when Remedios, despite a slight chest infection, and due to the illness of another singer, played the roles of both Siegmund in Die Walküre, the title role in Siegfried, and also Siegfried in Götterdämmerung, within a complete cycle of the Ring during one week, these being at the Empire Theatre, Liverpool performances of the tour.

Remedios sang the role of Mark in the first recording of Tippett's The Midsummer Marriage.^[5]

Remedios performed in many of the world's leading operatic venues, including the Metropolitan Opera in New York City, Seattle, Frankfurt, San Francisco and Buenos Aires.

In 1981, he was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE).^[1] His second wife was Australian and they lived in Sydney after his retirement in 1999.^[1] Remedios performed regularly in Australia – he sang in concert performances of Götterdämmerung at the Sydney Opera House in the late 1970s with Rita Hunter, conducted by Sir Charles Mackerras, and sang Lohengrin for Victoria State Opera in 1985.^[6] His brother Ramon also had a singing career as a tenor; on at least one occasion they were both in some performances by English National Opera of The Mastersingers.

He died in Sydney on 11 June 2016, aged 81.

References