Wagnerian stars Oleg Bryjak and Maria Radner were among the 150 people on board.

Two international opera singers have died when an A320 plane crashed in the French Alps on Tuesday. Kazakhstani bass-baritone Oleg Bryjak and German contralto Maria Radner were among the 150 people on board the Germanwings plane that came down on its way from Barcelona to Düsseldorf.

The two Wagnerian singers were on their way home to Düsseldorf from Barcelona where they had just completed a run of Siegfried at the Gran Teatre del Liceu playing Alberich and Erda respectively. All passengers were killed according to French officials, who have investigated the area the plane went down between Digne and Barcelonnette.

Oleg Bryjak (54) had been a member of the ensemble at Deutsche Oper am Rhein since 1996 and appeared in Paris, Zürich, London, Los Angeles,Vienna, Berlin, Munich, Sao Paolo and Tokyo. He was specially known and praised for his portrayal of Alberich and Australian listeners may have heard him sing the role under Daniel Barenboim at the 2013 BBC Proms. He also played the role to Australian baritone John Wegner’s Wotan in the 1994 Günter Neuhold Ring Cycle with the Badische Staatskapelle.

Maria Radner (34) was apparently...