Czerwenka, Oskar

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Czerwenka, Oskar

Czerwenka, Oskar , Austrian bass; b. Vöcklabruck bei Linz, July 5, 1924. He was a student of O. Iro in Vienna. In 1947 he made his operatic debut as the Hermit in Der Freischiitz in Graz. He joined the Vienna State Opera in 1951, where he became successful in such roles as Baron Ochs, Osmin, and Kecal in The Bartered Bride, and in operas by Lortzing; in 1961 he was made an Austrian Kammersanger. From 1953 he also appeared at the Salzburg Festival. In 1959 he sang Baron Ochs at the Glyndebourne Festival and, on Dec. 26 of that year, made his Metropolitan Opera debut in N.Y. in the same role. He also appeared in Hamburg, Berlin, Munich, Frankfurt am Main, Cologne, and Stuttgart. He also appeared widely as a concert artist. He publ. the book Lebenszeiten-Ungebetene Briefe (Vienna, 1987).

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire