Wenkoff spas

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Spas Wenkoff ( Bulgarian Спас Венков ; born September 23, 1928 in Veliko Tarnowo ; † August 12, 2013 in Bad Ischl ) was a Bulgarian- Austrian opera singer ( tenor ).

Life

Training and beginnings as a singer

Wenkoff studied in his Bulgarian homeland first Jura and worked for several years as a lawyer . He studied singing on the side - first in Tarnowo and Russe , then later in Dresden . In addition to his work as a legal advisor , he initially worked as a second concertmaster at a private operetta theater in his hometown.

In 1954 he made his debut as a singer in the Georgian operetta Keto and Kote by the Georgian composer Wiktor Dolidze . In 1959 the operetta theater was nationalized. In the same year Wenkoff gave up his legal profession and devoted himself entirely to singing. Until 1962 he was a full-time operetta tenor at the theater in his hometown. In 1962 he moved to Russia; his first role there was the singing teacher Alfred in the operetta Die Fledermaus by Johann Strauss . He sang there until 1965.

Career as a hero tenor

Spas Wenkoff was engaged at the Central Saxon Theater in Döbeln / Saxony from 1965 to 1968 , later at the Magdeburg City Theater from 1968 to 1971 and finally from 1971 to 1976 in Halle .

On October 12, 1975, after a successful audition with Harry Kupfer in Dresden , he sang the title role in Tristan und Isolde for the first time in his production , a role which he interpreted a total of 226 times during his career. From 1976 to 1984 he was a permanent member of the ensemble of the Berlin State Opera Unter den Linden . From 1984 he worked exclusively as a freelancer. In addition to Tristan, he sang Stolzing , Parsifal , Tannhäuser , Siegmund and Siegfried , but also the title role in Giuseppe Verdi's Otello .

At the Bayreuth Festival in 1976, 1977, 1982 and 1983 he sang Tristan and in 1978 the title role in Götz Friedrich's production of Tannhäuser . In 1981 he made his debut at the Metropolitan Opera in New York , again as Tristan. In March 1982 he made a guest appearance at the Frankfurt Opera House in the title role of Verdi's Otello . In the following years he sang primarily at the Deutsche Oper Berlin , the Vienna State Opera , the Bavarian State Opera in Munich and the Cologne Opera . In June 1988 he sang the role of Siegfried in Wagner's Götterdämmerung at the Deutsche Oper Berlin in a festival performance on the occasion of the 75th birthday of the conductor Heinrich Hollreiser . He took his stage farewell in 1993.

Wenkoff also enjoyed particular success at the Vienna State Opera, where on October 16, 1982, in the middle of the first act of Tannhäuser, he stood in for the indisposed Reiner Goldberg . His appearance there on November 28, 1985 was also acclaimed: after singing a Tristan rehearsal in Berlin that morning, he stepped in for his sick colleague Gerd Brenneis as Siegmund in the opera Die Walküre .

Awards and private matters

Spas Wenkoff was a two-time Kammersänger ( GDR / Austria ), an honorary citizen of his hometown Veliko Tarnowo and since 1988 an honorary member of the Richard Wagner Association Linz . In 1981 he was awarded the Silver Star of Friendship of Nations in the GDR . Wenkoff received Austrian citizenship in 1984 and spent his retirement in Bad Ischl . He died after a long, serious illness at the age of almost 85.

Wenkoff's older brother Wenko was also a successful opera singer (tenor).

Audio documents

  • An evening at the opera with Spas Wenkoff. Richard Wagner: Arias and Scenes. CD from Ars Vivendi, earlier as LP from Eterna 1977.
  • Richard Wagner: Tristan and Isolde. Total recording. CD at Myto with Carlos Kleiber .
  • Richard Wagner: Tristan and Isolde. Extracts. CD at Bella Voce with Otmar Suitner .
  • Richard Wagner: Tannhäuser. Recording of the Bayreuth Festival 1978. DVD on Deutsche Grammophon.
  • Richard Wagner: Tannhäuser. Complete recording (Berlin, 1982). Gala 3 CDs GL100621.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Fritz Walden : "Tannhäuser" new production in the State Opera: The Volksoper and the Bacchanal . In: Arbeiter-Zeitung . Vienna October 18, 1982, p. 13 ( berufer-zeitung.at - the open online archive - digitized).
  2. ↑ Berliner Zeitung , 2./3. May 1981, p. 4
  3. ^ On August 12, 2013 Kammersänger Spas Wenkoff died in Bad Ischl (Austria) at the age of 85 after a long and serious illness. In: Der Neue Merker , August 13, 2013
  4. ↑ Wenko Wenkoff at Operissimo  on the basis of the Great Singer LexiconTemplate: Operissimo / maintenance / use of parameter 2
personal data
SURNAME Wenkoff, spas
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Венков, Спас (Bulgarian)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Bulgarian-Austrian opera singer (tenor)
DATE OF BIRTH September 23, 1928
PLACE OF BIRTH Veliko Tarnovo
DATE OF DEATH August 12, 2013
Place of death Bad Ischl