On June 20, 2022, Austrian tenor Kurt Equiluz died at the age of 93.

The Austrian press first reported the news of the tenor’s death.

Equiluz was born in Vienna on June 13, 1929 and became a member of the Wiener Sängerknaben performing as an alto soloist at an early age. He went on to study at the Austrian State Academy for Music and Art in Vienna from 1944 to 1950 and in 1945 he became a member of the Wiener Akademie Kammerchor.

In 1950, he he joined the chorus of the Wiener Staatsoper and 1957 he appeared in his first role as a soloist. The role was Pedrillo in Mozart’s “Die Entführung aus dem Serail.”

From there he went on to sing such roles as Jaquino in Beethoven’s “Fidelio,” Scaramuccio in “Ariadne auf Naxos,” Monostatos in Mozart’s “Die Zauberflöte,” Trabuco in Verdi’s “La forza del destino,” Goro in Puccini’s “Madama Butterfly,” Spoletta in “Tosca,” and Remendado in Bizet’s “Carmen.”

He remained with the company until 1983, performing 69 different roles in around 200 performances.

He also performed at the Salzburg Festival, Graz, and other concert halls.

During his career, Equiluz participated in the world premieres of Rolf Liebermann’s “Penelope,” Frank Martin’s “Mystère de la Nativité,” and Rudolf Wagner-Régeny’s “Das Bergwerk zu Falun.” He went on to be honored by the title Kammersänger in 1980.

Outside of his operatic career, he became known for his interpretation of Bach cantatas and oratorios and recoded such works as the St Matthew Passion and St John Passion, among others.

In 1964 Equiluz started teaching and was eventually appointed as professor of the Musikhochschule of Graz and of the Wiener Musikakademie.