Around the Music Festival

German baritone Thomas Johannes Mayer has passed away. He was 56 years old. He was a leading figure in the opera world, but had a chronic heart condition. His last opera appearance was in late November, when he sang the title role in Berg’s “Wozzeck” at the New National Theatre Tokyo in Japan. He withdrew from the opera after his third appearance due to poor health.

Born in Bensheim in southwestern Germany, he studied philosophy, history, and musicology before studying vocal music at the Cologne University of Music under Liselotte Hammes and Kurt Moll. He performed in Regensburg, Darmstadt, Basel, Karlsruhe, and Hamburg, and subsequently appeared at many of the world’s most renowned opera houses.

He specializes in Wagner’s works and made his debut at the Wagner Festival in Bayreuth, Germany in 2012 as Telramund in Lohengrin, directed by Hans Neuenfels. He has sung over 80 roles, including Don Giovanni, Wozzeck, Macbeth, Rigoletto, and Eugene Onegin. Wozzeck is one of his signature roles, and he made his debut at La Scala in the 2007/2008 season in a production directed by Jürgen Flimm.

He has collaborated with many conductors, including Claudio Abbado, Daniel Barenboim, Semyon Bychkov, Valery Gergiev, Mariss Jansons, Philippe Jordan, Vladimir Jurowski, Zubin Mehta, Andris Nelsons, Kirill Petrenko and Simon Rattle.

PHOTO：Simon Pauly