The Wagnerian tenor, renowned for his strong, lyrical voice, has passed away aged 81.

English tenor Alberto Remedios, renowned for his strong, lyrical voice and interpretations of Wagner, has passed away aged 81 in Australia.

Remedios was born in Liverpool, England, to working class parents. He sang in a church choir as a child and took singing lessons with Edwin Francis, who also taught soprano Rita Hunter. Remedios left school at 15 to play football semi-professionally and work as a welder in a shipyard in Merseyside. He continued his singing lessons and, following his National Service, studied at the Royal College of Music with Clive Carey. He made his operatic debut in 1957 as Tinca in Puccini’s Tabarro for Sadler’s Wells (which later became the English National Opera), performing regularly with the company.

Remedios’ distinctive voice and power soon brought him success. Musicologist Elizabeth Forbes described it: “The voice has much more of an edge than the usual Italian tenor; it is far smoother than a German voice of comparable size, less nasal than the typical French sound, more resonant than the well-bred but constricted tones produced by many British singers.”

Remedios first sang the role...