Jon Vickers, who rose from a boyhood on a Saskatchewan farm to become one of the great opera tenors on the 20th Century, has died
In a statement released by The Royal Opera House in London, Mr. Vickers’s children said he died Friday in Ontario following “a prolonged struggle with Alzeheimer’s disease.” He was 88.
Because of his strong Christian beliefs and richly powerful voice, Mr. Vickers was known as “God’s tenor.”
Born in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan in 1926, he sang in church choirs as a child and won a scholarship to the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto.
He made his Royal Opera debut in 1957 and in 1958 performed at Germany’s Bayreuth festival, becoming one of the world’ leading Wagnerian performers, acclaimed for roles including Siegmund in “Die Walkuere.”
From 1960 he was a regular at New York’s Metropolitan Opera, where his roles included Benjamin Britten’s “Peter Grimes.” He retired in 1988.
Mr. Vickers is survived by a sister, five children, 11 grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
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