On Nov. 11, 2025, Heldentenor Gary Lakes died at the age of 75.

Born on Sept. 26, 1950, in Woodward, Oklahoma, and raised in Irving, Texas, Lakes studied at Southern Methodist University.

He made his professional debut with the Seattle Opera in the role of Froh in 1981 in Wagner’s “Das Rheingold.” In 1986 he went on to make his Met debut as the High Priest in Mozart’s “Idomeneo” and went on to perform with the company 106 times. Among his roles with the company included Siegmund in Wagner’s “Die Walküre,” Don José in Bizet’s “Carmen,” Samson in Saint-Saëns’ “Samson et Dalila,” the Emperor in Strauss’ “Die Frau ohne Schatten,” Erik in Wagner’s “Der fliegende Holländer,” Grigory in Mussorgsky’s “Boris Godunov,” Florestan in Beethoven’s “Fidelio,” the title role in Wagner’s “Parsifal,” Laca in Janáček’s “Jenůfa,” Aeneas in Berlioz’ “Les Troyens” and Jimmy Mahoney in Weill’s “Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny.”

With the company, Lakes was featured on the recording of “Die Walküre” on both DVD and CD.

Other Wagner roles he sang at various opera houses include Tristan in “Tristan und Isolde,” Siegfried in “Götterdämmerung,” and the title roles in “Tannhäuser” and “Lohengrin.”

The tenor went on to make many recordings for which he won three Grammy awards.