Opera singer and conductor Peter Schreier is dead. The tenor died on the first Christmas day after a long illness at the age of 84. This was announced by his longtime secretary on Thursday. At first the "Dresdner Latest News" reported about it.
Schreier was one of the few international stars in the GDR. He has made guest appearances and sings at all major opera houses and festivals around the world, including New York, Milan, Los Angeles, Vienna and Salzburg. Yet he never left the East. "I would be missing something if I could not live in Dresden," he once said.
The later tenor grew up on July 29, 1935 in Gauernitz, a small town between Dresden and Meißen. His father was a cantor there. At the age of eight he came to the Dresden Kreuzchor and later studied singing and conducting in Dresden. After the Wall was built, Schreier moved to the State Opera in East Berlin.
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In 1959 he stood on the opera stage for the first time - as the first prisoner in Beethoven's "Fidelio". Three years later he made his breakthrough as Belmonte in Mozart's "The Abduction from the Seraglio".
Schreier was considered one of the leading lyrical tenors of the 20th century. At 65, he said goodbye to the opera and concert stage. After that he was still active as a conductor and teacher until that too became too difficult for his health.
He had had diabetes for many years, had dialysis twice a week, and had hip and back problems.