There is hardly another singer whose personal biography reflects the fortunes of Berlin as a centre of opera as directly as that of Rolf Kühne: between 1960 and his retirement from the stage in 1997, the bass-baritone was a member of the ensemble at all three of the city's opera houses. At first it was Walter Felsenstein's Komische Oper that brought the young singer, who had begun his stage career in Chemnitz and Weimar, to the capital. But only a year later, in 1961, he was engaged by the Staatsoper, where he appeared in the great roles of his field, such as Kaspar in Der FREISCHÜTZ and Telramund in LOHENGRIN. After Kühne made the decision in 1968, following a guest performance by the Staatsoper in Switzerland, not to return to the GDR, the great stages were open to him not only in West Germany – for example, he made his debut as Telramund at the Bayreuth Festival in 1971 and was also engaged there as Alberich in 1974. Nevertheless, in 1973 Kühne decided to return to Berlin and become a member of the Deutsche Oper Berlin ensemble. Kühne remained loyal to the theatre on Bismarckstraße for 24 years, appearing on stage a total of 738 evenings and playing 60 different roles, including Alberich, which he sang 43 times, also in the new production by Götz Friedrich, Iago in OTELLO, Jochanaan in SALOME and Scarpia in TOSCA. From the 1980s onwards, Kühne appeared not only in smaller repertoire roles but also increasingly in contemporary music theatre works: the list of world premieres in which he took part ranges from Siebert's UNTERGANG DER TITANIC and Kagel's AUS DEUTSCHLAND (photo) to Kelterborn's OPHELIA.

As has now been announced, Rolf Kühne passed away in Wiesbaden on 22 March this year at the age of 92. Deutsche Oper Berlin will honour his memory.