South African Tenor Johan Botha Dies at Age 51

Johan Botha, a South African operatic tenor, has passed away at the age of 51 in Vienna.

The Met Musicians issued the following statement on their Facebook page, "We wish to send condolences to the family of this fine artist and true gentleman. We had some inspiring collaborations with him at the Met, and he had originally been scheduled to perform with us at Carnegie Hall last season."

The Vienna Philharmonic said, "We mourn the loss of the exceptional tenor Johan Botha, with whom we have performed operas and concerts in Vienna and at the Salzburg Festival for about the last two decades. R.I.P."

The Royal Opera House called Botha "A true Wagnerian tenor."

Botha was born in Rustenburg, South Africa. He made his stage debut at the municipal theatre in Roodepoort as Max in Der Freischütz in 1989. His international breakthrough occurred in 1993 at the Opéra Bastille as Pinkerton inPuccini's Madama Butterfly. Since then he performed at leading opera venues around the world such as the Metropolitan Opera, Vienna State Opera which made him a Kammersänger in 2003, Opera Australia, Royal Opera House(London), La Scala, and the Salzburg Festival. At the time of his death he lived in Vienna, Austria with his wife and two sons.