Baritone Motti Kastón Dies at 64

Baritone Motti Kastón died on Sept. 30 at the age of 64, the Stuttgart State Opera announced. He had been a member of the company's soloist ensemble since 1991, and colleagues remembered him as much for his character as for his instrument.

Kammersängerin Helene Schneiderman spoke on behalf of the ensemble. "Motti will always hold a special place in our hearts," she said. "He was a man not only with a beautiful voice but also a beautiful soul. I will never forget the many wonderful and amusing moments we shared, and especially his distinctive sense of humor. Motti, we miss you already!"

Kastón was born in Tel Aviv in 1961. He completed a training program at the Metropolitan Opera in New York and made his debut on that stage in 1989 in "Il barbiere di Siviglia." He went on to win the Pavarotti Competition in Philadelphia, and in 1991 he joined the Stuttgart State Opera ensemble. He remained with the company for many years, receiving the title "Württembergischer Kammersänger" in 2006.

His international career ranged widely. He sang the title role in Monteverdi's "L'Orfeo" in Montpellier, Rossini's Barber in Frankfurt, and Enrico in "Lucia di Lammermoor" in Houston. At the Metropolitan Opera and in Dresden, he performed both Wolfram in "Tannhäuser" and Marcello in "La Bohème."

In Stuttgart, his repertoire showed similar breadth across four centuries of opera. His roles there included Ottone in "L'incoronazione di Poppea," Rodrigo in "Don Carlo," Lubino in "Una cosa rara," Marcello, Figaro in "Il barbiere di Siviglia," Germont in "La traviata," Donner in "Das Rheingold," and Sharpless in "Madama Butterfly."

That list traces an arc from Monteverdi's 1643 Venetian court drama to Verdi and Puccini, with Mozart-era rarities and Wagner along the way — the profile of a house singer the Stuttgart ensemble could cast in nearly anything. His three-decade tenure, from his 1991 arrival to the Kammersänger honor in 2006 and beyond, made him one of the fixed points of the company's ensemble at a time when such long-term commitments have grown rare in the opera world.