Equiluz, Kurt
Equiluz, Kurt
Equiluz, Kurt, esteemed Austrian tenor and teacher; b. Vienna, June 13, 1929. He received instruction in piano and violin as a child, and was a member of the Vienna Boys Choir (from 1939). In 1944 he entered the Vienna Academy of Music, where he studied with Hubert Jelinek (harp), Adolf Vogel (voice), and Ferdinand Grossmann (choral conducting). He then was a member of the Vienna Academy Chamber Choir (1946–51), and in 1949 won the Vienna Mozart Competition. In 1950 he joined the Vienna State Opera chorus, making his debut as a solo artist in 1957 and subsequently singing roles in operas by Mozart, Beethoven, and Strauss. However, it was as an oratorio and lieder artist that he acquired an international reputation, excelling particularly in the works of Bach. In 1980 he was made an Austrian Kammersanger. In 1964 he joined the faculty of the Graz Hochschule fur Musik, and in 1981 the faculty of the Vienna Hochschule fur Musik.
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire