The performance was conducted by Marek Janowski, and he sang alongside Ingeborg Zobel as Isolde and Theo Adam as Marke.
He appeared as Tristan at the Bayreuth Festival in the centenary year 1976, alongside Catarina Ligendza as Isolde, staged by August Everding and conducted by Carlos Kleiber.
He also performed there the title role in Götz Friedrich's new staging of Tannhäuser in 1978,[1] alongside Gwyneth Jones as both Venus and Elisabeth, conducted by Colin Davis, and filmed live.
[1] The New York Times' review compared him to Ludwig Suthaus and Ramón Vinay, and noted his "solid lower register", "care for declamation and a sensitivity to the drama", with a focus on the character's introspection, with the "finest impact during the legato of the Act II love duet".
[1] On 16 October 1982, at the Vienna State Opera, Wenkoff stepped in for the suddenly indisposed Reiner Goldberg in the middle of the first act of Tannhäuser.
He received Austrian citizenship in 1984 and spent his retirement in Bad Ischl where he died after a long illness at the age of 84.
[2] A biography was written on the occasion of his 80th birthday by Peter M. Schneider, titled Heldentenor Spas Wenkoff: alles war Zufall.