Baritone who sang at Eurovision final and Covent Garden

Baritone who sang at Eurovision final and Covent Garden

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norman lebrecht

October 10, 2011

The Swedish singer Ingvar Wixell has died, aged 80.

 

A huge bear of a man, he sang Tosca’s Scarpia Barber’s Figaro and Carmen’s Escamillo  in Munich, Berlin and London, reaching the Met only in 1973 with Rigoletto.

Less well remembered was his role in choosing Sweden’s Eurovision entry for 1965, when he performed all the selected songs and took the winner, Absent Friend, to the final in Naples.

Here‘s a screen-grab from those innocent times.

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