Opera Scotland

Mark Lundberg Suggest updates

Born: Denver, Colorado, 25 March 1958.

Died: Ronkonkoma, Long Island, NY, 15 August 2008.

American heldentenor.

Mark Lundberg studied at the University of Indiana under Margart Harshaw (a noted Wagnerian of the post-war years) and in New York with Maitland Peters. Mark Lundberg came from a Swedish-American background and was the son of an Episcopalian priest, he sang in church choirs from childhood. His initial training was as a bass, and he sang in the Metropolitan Opera's national auditions as a bass, then as a baritone, before settling as a tenor. His great height (6' 6") made him a striking figure on stage - dramatically, as well as vocally, perfect for the role of Samson, which he sang with Scottish Opera. His only other appearance in Britain was as Tristan for Opera North in 2001.

He spent most of his career with a range of American companies from New York to Hawaii and many in between. In 1988 at Santa Fe he appeared in two American premieres, as Hadank in The Black Mask (Penderecki) and the Mayor in Friedenstag (Richard Strauss). He spent 1994 in Dortmund, singing Florestan, Siegmund and Siegfried, and repeated Siegmund the following year in Berlin. Another Wagner role in Germany was Erik, which he sang at Stuttgart. His other important parts included Bacchus (Kansas 1995 and later in Nice). He also sang the Drum Major (San Francisco 1999), and made his debut as Otello in Salt Lake City in 2002, before singing Siegfried in Chicago the following year. He repeated his Tristan in Brussels in 2006, and was scheduled to sing Samson in Dublin later in 2008.