It has been announced that the British baritone Benjamin Luxon has died, aged 87.

One of the UK’s leading opera voices in the 1960s and 1970s, Luxon studied with Walther Gruner at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. He established himself as a first-rank singer in the early 1960s as a member of the English Opera Group, the ensemble formed by Benjamin Britten for the performance of his own and other contemporary operas. Britten wrote the role of Owen Wyngrave (a work made for BBC TV) specifically for Luxon’s voice.

Benjamin Luxon, 1937–2024

In 1974, Luxon began a long association with the English National Opera which culminated in his appearance in the title role of Verdi’s Falstaff in 1992. He made his Metropolitan Opera début (as Eugene Onegin) in 1980, his La Scala début in 1986, and his Los Angeles début (in Berg’s Wozzeck) in 1988. He sang in many of Europe’s major opera houses and made frequent appearances in Munich (Bayerische Staatsoper) and Vienna (Wiener Staatsoper).

His broad repertoire also included parlour songs from the late 19th and early 20th century and he made several appearances on BBC TV’s long-running...