On Dec. 21, 2025, contralto Ortrun Wenkel died at the age of 83 after a short illness. Wenkel was born in Buttstädt, Thuringia on Oct. 25, 1942 and studied  at the Hochschule für Musik Franz Liszt, Weimar. After immigrating from East Germany to West Germany, she continued at the Frankfurt University of Music and Performing Arts. The contralto began her {…}