A Kammersänger of the Dresden State Opera, he sang leading baritone roles both in his native Germany and internationally during the course of his stage career.

[1] He appeared in a number of complete opera and oratorio recordings on the Eterna, Supraphon, and Deutsche Grammophon labels.

When World War II ended, he continued his studies at the State Conservatory in Erfurt[3] and was engaged as a violinist in the Gotha municipal orchestra in 1949.

Then, encouraged by his teacher, he enrolled in the Weimar Conservatory, graduating in 1952 with a diploma in opera and concert singing and music pedagogy.

He made his Metropolitan Opera debut in 1976 as Beckmesser in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, a role he had sung the previous year at the Salzburg Easter Festival.