Peter Hofmann

Peter Hofmann (22 August 1944 – 30 November 2010)[1] was a German tenor who had a successful performance career within the fields of opera, rock, pop, and musical theatre.

He first rose to prominence as a heldentenor at the Bayreuth festival's Jahrhundertring (Centenary Ring) in 1976, where he drew critical acclaim for his performance of Siegmund in Richard Wagner's Die Walküre.

He was active as one of the world's leading Wagnerian tenors over the next decade, performing roles like Lohengrin, Parsifal, Siegmund and Tristan at major opera houses and festivals internationally.

He made a number of pop albums which sold well in Europe such as Rock Classics (1982) and Love Me Tender: Peter Hofmann Sings Elvis Presley (1992).

In 1987, Hallmark released Songs for the Holidays, an album featuring Hofmann and his wife Deborah Sasson (née O'Brien, Miss Massachusetts 1971) (de).

In the studio, he made a 1978 recording of Die Zauberflöte under French conductor Alain Lombard with Dame Kiri Te Kanawa and Kathleen Battle, then Fidelio (conducted by Sir Georg Solti, 1979), Parsifal (opposite Dunja Vejzovic's Kundry, led by Herbert von Karajan, 1979–80; also opposite Waltraud Meier's Kundry, led by James Levine, live 1985), Orfeo ed Euridice (1982) and Der fliegende Holländer (with José van Dam and Vejzovic, conducted by von Karajan 1981–83).