Peter Minich

[7] Between 1951 and 1955, Minich's principal venue was the Theater St. Gallen (subsequently torn down, relocated and rebuilt:[6] the 1950s theatre frontage has been replaced by a McDonald's burger outlet[8]).

[9] Minich starred in several guest roles at the Volksoper, notably in 1956 as Petruchio in Porter's Kiss Me, Kate and then in 1957 as Eisenstein in Die Fledermaus by Johann Strauss.

In September 1960, he made his first stage appearance after joining as a full-time Volksoper ensemble member as Count Tassilo in Kálmán's Countess Maritza.

[11] Among his many leading roles at the Staatsoper were Symon in Der Bettelstudent (1960), Lieutenant Niki in Ein Walzertraum by Oscar Straus (1960, and reprised in 1974), Danilo in Lehár's The Merry Widow (1960 and 1974) and Paul Aubier in Opernball by Richard Heuberger (1960 and 1985).

It was a typical Viennese repertoire of light opera tenor roles which also included that of Achmed Bey in Fall's The Rose of Stamboul (1961), the title role in Boccaccio (1961), Carmello in Eine Nacht in Venedig by Johann Strauss (1961), Mister X in Die Zirkusprinzessin (1962), Nanki-Puh in The Mikado (1962), René in Madame Pompadour (1964), René in Der Graf von Luxemburg (1964), Edwin Ronald in Die Csárdásfürstin (1966), Adam in Zeller's Der Vogelhändler (1966), Count Zedlau in Wiener Blut (1967), the stranger in Venus in Seide [de], Anton Hofer in Zwei Herzen im Dreivierteltakt [de] (1975) and Leopold in The White Horse Inn (1976).

In 1962 and again in 1963 he took part in the Salzburg Festival, appearing in Mozart's Die Entführung aus dem Serail as the Pasha Bassa Selim (a speaking role).

[15] He came to the attention of a wider audience during this period through a succession of television productions involving, notably, major roles in a number of "operetta films".

Examples are Baron Gondremarck in Offenbach's La Vie parisienne (1981)[17] and his 1983 return with the Volksoper company to the part of Colonel Franz Ollendorf in Der Bettelstudent.

[18] During the final years of his career, Minich increased the proportion of his work undertaken outside the Volksoper, while remaining in the Lower Austria region surrounding Vienna.

[19] There were further appearances at the Langenlois Castle Festival, as Prince Ypsheim-Gindelbach in Wiener Blut (2000) and at the Sommerspiele Perchtoldsdorf [de] as Donna in Il Campiello by Carlo Goldoni (2001).