Sad news: Death of a heroic British tenor
mainWe regret to share news (from one of his students) of the death in Australia of Alberto Remedios, a stalwart Siegfried at English National Opera and at many international houses.
Alberto was 81. He had lived in Australia since his retirement in 1999.
A Liverpool dock worker, he earned a place at the Royal College of Music and joined the Sadlers Wells company in the late 1950s.
He was the unforgettable Siegfried in Regnald Goodall’s Ring, one cycle of which played in those heady days in his native Liverpool.
A moment’s silence, please.
About 30 years ago I heard Alberto sing Tristan Act 2 and the following year excerpts from Fidelio with the Hong Kong Phil. He was in marvellous voice. He will be greatly missed.
There is a tale about that Ring cycle recording at the Coliseum of whose veracity I am not entirely certain. They were I believe recorded during ‘live’ performances. It was said that all the principals had signed off on fees which equated with the amount of the time they spent on stage. Come Siegfried, the late Rita Hunter was none too happy that with her appearance limited to the last Act duet, she would be being paid a small fraction of that agreed for Alberto. The story goes that she locked herself in her dressing room prior to Act 3 and refused to come out until parity in the recording fees was agreed. Not even Lord Harewood could solve the problem amicably, and so all concerned caved in.
RIP Alberto. I have many happy memories of your Wagner under Reggie, Colin Davis and Richard Armstrong. Well worth searching out his autobiography.
A great loss. See too (or rather, hear) his Walther from Meistersinger in 1968 with Reggie, which collectively pre-launched ENO just months before they moved to the Coli as English National Opera.
RIP.
Actually the Company did not become ENO until 1974, six years after the move to the Coliseum
I first heard his glorious voice in the Colin Davis recording of Tippett’s THE MIDSUMMER MARRIAGE.
He was my first Siegfried, in Seattle, WA, USA many years ago. I JUST heard of our losing him…