Pennsylvania-born tenor Kenneth Riegel has died at the age of 85. He made his debut at Santa Fe Opera in 1965. That same year sang at the Royal Opera House and in 1969 he made his New York City Opera debut.
His Metropolitan Opera debut came in 1973 in Les Troyens and subsequently he was cast for no less than 102 performances at the Met.
In 1975 Riegel made his Salzburg Festival debut with the role of Doctor Marianus in Mahler’s Eighth under Leonard Bernstein. Until 1996 he returned regularly to the city of Mozart, among others for the operatic roles of Herod in Salome (1992 and 1993) and Aegist in Elektra (1996).
Throughout his career he made a number of recordings under conductors such as Bernstein, Ozawa, Solti, Maazel, Boulez and Dohnanyi.
