Schmidt, Wolfgang

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Schmidt, Wolfgang

Schmidt, Wolfgang, German tenor; b. Kassel, Aug. 19, 1956. He was a student of Martin Gründler at the Frankfurt am Main Hochschule für Musik. After appearances with the Pocket Opera in Nuremberg, he sang at the Court Theater in Bayreuth (1982–84), in Kiel (1984–86), and in Dortmund (1986–89). In 1989 he sang Wagner’s Erik at the Bregenz Festival, and that same year he joined the Deutsche Oper am Rhein in Düsseldorf. In 1991 he was engaged by the Salzburg Festival and the Vienna State Opera. He portrayed Tannhäuser at the Bayreuth Festival in 1992. On April 22, 1993, he made his Metropolitan Opera debut in N.Y. as Siegfried, a role he reprised at Bayreuth in 1994 and at Milan’s La Scala in 1997. After singing Tristan at the San Francisco Opera in 1998, he returned there as Siegfried in 1999. He also appeared widely as a concert artist.

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire