On Dec. 10, 2022, tenor John Aler died at the age of 73.

Born in Baltimore, Maryland, on October 4, 1949, Aler grew up in Maryland and attended Catholic University where he studied voice with Rilla Mervine and Raymond McGuire. He graduated with a B.A. in music and an M.M. in Vocal Performance. He went on to attend the Juilliard School from 1972 to 1976 where he studied with Oren Brown and then attended the Berkshire Music Center in Tanglewood for several summers.

He made his operatic debut in 1977 as Ernesto in Donizetti’s “Don Pasquale” at the Juilliard School’s American Opera Center. That same year he won several first prizes at the Concours International de Chant in Paris.

A year later he made his Santa Fe Opera debut and in 1979 performed in Europe for the first time, singing at the Théâtre de la Monnaie.

Thereafter he would make his Royal Opera House debut in 1986 and would become a principal guest artist at the English National Opera, Deutsche Oper Berlin, the Vienna Staatsoper, Bavarian State Opera, the Salzburg Festival, Hamburg State Opera, Grand Théâtre de Genève, Teatro Real, Opéra National de Lyon, New York City Opera, Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, Washington National Opera, Bayerische Staatsoper, San Diego Opera and Baltimore Opera He also performed with major American summer festivals as well as important orchestras as the New York Philharmonic, the Cleveland Orchestra, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Boston Symphony, the Chicago Symphony, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and the Atlanta Symphony.

His repertoire included the works by Donizetti, Mozart, Handel, Rossini, Bellini, Bizet, Bach, Bartok, and Berlioz.

Following his career as a performer he went on to become an associate professor of music and the director of Mason Opera at George Mason University.

He left numerous recordings behind and won four Grammys for his recordings of “Berlioz: Requiem,” “Handel: Semele,” and “Bartók: The Wooden Prince & Cantata Profana.”