Countertenor, conductor, and teacher Charles Brett has died at the age of 83.

Brett was educated at Winchester College and King’s College and studied singing with Julian Smith and John Whitworth.

Brett was a revered professor who held several teaching posts, including Assistant Music Master at Eton College, Director of Music at Malvern College, and at Westminster School. While at Malvern, he also conducted the Malvern Musical Society.

Brett eventually turned to freelancing and became a Professor at the Royal Academy of Music from 1988 to 2003 and taught singing at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge. He went on to teach masterclasses around teh world in Mexico, Guatemala, Germany, Belgium, Canada, and Spain.

Outside of his teaching career, Brett was a well-known soloist who made his debut in 1965 in London. He went on to work with the greatest specialists in Early and Baroque music and performed at top European Festivals, including Barcelona, San Sebastian, Cuenca, Wroclaw, Prague, Aix-en-Provence, Sable-sur-Sarthe, Lourdes, Saintes, Innsbruck, and Flanders.

Brett’s operatic repertoire included Oberon in Britten’s “Midsummer Night’s Dream,” Athamas in Handel’s “Semele,” and Publio in Gluck’s “La Clemenza di Tito.”

Brett was also the founder of The Amaryllis Consort, which debuted in London and performed in France, Spain, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, and Portugal.

Throughout his career, the countertenor made several recordings with the choir of St John’s College as well as operatic albums of such works as “The Fairy Queen” and “The Messiah,” among others.