Mark Lundberg: Versatile dramatic tenor

The tenor Mark Lundberg started his career singing bass and baritone roles. He had an immense range and once his voice had gained sufficient strength, he became a dramatic tenor, singing roles such as Saint-Saëns' Samson, Verdi's Otello and several Wagner roles.

A very large man – 6ft 7in tall and broad to match – he had the physique for that repertory and should have had many more years to display his talents in it, had he not died at the age of 50 following a brief illness. His career was spent mainly in North America, but he sang twice for the British companies Scottish Opera and Opera North, as well as in Dortmund, Bilbao and other European cities.

Lundberg was born in Denver, Colorado, in 1958 and studied at Indiana University with Margaret Harshaw, a noted Wagner soprano. His tenor career started in the late 1980s, when he sang Hadank in 1988 in Penderecki's The Black Mask at Santa Fe. He then sang the Burgomaster in Richard Strauss's Friedenstag. He also sang Hadank for Radio France. After Canio in Pagliacci at Austin Lyric Opera in 1994, he sang his first Siegfried in Götterdämmerung at Dortmund.

One of his most successful roles was Samson in Samson et Dalila, which he sang for Scottish Opera in 1997 and also for New Orleans Opera, Opera Omaha, Michigan Opera and in Honolulu. His impressive stature was particularly appropriate in this role, while the music fitted his voice perfectly.

Another role in which his size was a positive advantage was the Drum Major in Berg's Wozzeck, which he sang at San Francisco in 1999. His second British appearance, with Opera North, was as Tristan in a semi-staged concert performance of Tristan und Isolde in Leeds Town Hall in 2001. In 2006 he stepped in to sing the third act of Tristan at the Théâtre de la Monnaie in Brussels when the tenor John Keyes could not continue. There were signs that he might have become a really fine Tristan in future years. Meanwhile, he tackled the young Siegfried at the Lyric Opera Chicago in 2004 and sang a trumpet-voiced Otello at Bilbao, Utah, Honolulu and with Opera Ontario, Opera Lyra Ontario and Manitoba Opera Association.

Other roles in Lundberg's repertory were Florestan in Beethoven's Fidelio, Bacchus in Strauss's Ariadne auf Naxos, which he sang at the Metropolitan Opera, New York, in 2005 and Siegmund in Die Walküre – the best of his Wagner roles, as the baritonal quality of his voice suited Siegmund's music particularly well. He was scheduled to sing Samson in Dublin and with Pittsburgh Opera in autumn 2008.

Elizabeth Forbes

Mark Lundberg, bass, baritone and tenor singer: born Denver, Colorado 25 March 1958; married (one son, three daughters); died Stony Brook, New York 15 August 2008.

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