Spanish Soprano Enriqueta Tarrés has Died, Aged 90

The Spanish soprano was known as one of the foremost singers of the twentieth century

Legendary Spanish soprano Enriqueta Tarrés has passed away at the age of 90.

Born in Barcelona in 1934, Tarrés began studying music at the age of 8 with the encouragement of her mother. When she was 11, she entered Barcelona's Conservatorio Superior de Música, where she studied piano and singing with the mezzo-soprano Concepción Callao.

Following further study in Paris and Milan, she made her debut at the Palau de la Música Catalana in 1954, singing in Liszt's The Legend of St Elizabeth. Soon after, she won the Gran Prix Internacional de Chant de Toulouse and made her operatic debut singing the role of Leonora in Il trovatore in an outdoor performance in the bullring of Las Arenas in Barcelona.

In December 1957 she made her debut in the Gran Teatre del Liceu in the role of Marguerite in Faust, which marked the first time that the work was performed in French in Barcelona.

Tarrés was part of the company at Basel Opera (where she crossed over with Montserrat Caballé) and at the Wuppertal Opernhaus. She later sang at Glyndebourne, the Aix-en-Provence Festival, Covent Garden, the Opera of San Francisco, Bayerische Staatsoper, and the Metropolitan Opera.

A committed pedagogue, Tarrés was a professor at the Conservatorio de Vila-seca (Tarragona), and the Conservatorio Superior de Música del Liceo de Barcelona. She received a number of awards, including the distinction of Kammersängerin at the Berlin State Opera and the Premio al mejor Intérprete Catalán.

Our condolences to Tarrés's family, friends, and colleagues.