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Star tenor Johan Botha dies aged 51 in Vienna

The Local/AFP
The Local/AFP - [email protected]
Star tenor Johan Botha dies aged 51 in Vienna
Botha in Ariadne auf Naxos with Anne Schwanewilms, Hamburg State Opera. Photo:Monika Rittershaus/Wikimedia

Tributes poured in from the operatic world for South African-born star tenor Johan Botha who died on Thursday, aged 51, after a short illness.

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Tributes poured in from the operatic world for South African-born star tenor Johan Botha who died on Thursday, aged 51, after a short illness.

Botha, who also had Austrian citizenship, died in Vienna where he lived and was engaged at the Vienna State Opera as a Kammersänger, local media said.

"We had been looking forward to his return so much," the prestigious opera house's director Dominique Meyer said.

"Johan Botha was one of very few top tenors in his area, and until recently one of our best singers," Mayer said.

Milan's La Scala, where Botha regularly sang, said Botha "had a brilliant international career that took him into the leading theatres of the world."

Botha lived in Vienna with his wife and two sons. 

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