Ingvar Wixell

Karl Gustaf Ingvar Wixell (7 May 1931 8 October 2011) was a Swedish baritone who had an active international career in operas and concerts from 1955 to 2003. He mostly sang roles from the Italian repertory, and, according to The New York Times, "was best known for his steady-toned, riveting portrayals of the major baritone roles of Giuseppe Verdi — among them Rigoletto, Simon Boccanegra, Amonasro in Aida, and Germont in La traviata". He was the Swedish entrant in the Eurovision Song Contest 1965.

Life and career Ingvar Wixell was born in Luleå in 1931. After studies at the Stockholm Academy of Music, he made his debut in Gävle in 1952, then in 1955 as Papageno in Mozart's The Magic Flute at the Royal Swedish Opera in Stockholm where he was member of the company until 1967.

He made his British debut during the Royal Swedish Opera's visit to the Edinburgh International Festival in 1959. Wixell returned with this company to Royal Opera House in 1960, and sang Guglielmo at Glyndebourne and at the Proms in 1962. For the Royal Opera, London he sang Boccanegra in 1972. In America he appeared at Chicago Lyric Opera (Belcore, 1967) and the Metropolitan Opera (Rigoletto, 1973). At Salzburg he sang a noted Pizarro at the Festival, where he appeared from 1966 to 1969,

Wixell ended his career in 2003 by singing the Music teacher in Richard Strauss's Ariadne auf Naxos at Malmö Opera.

Wixell died in Malmö on 8 October 2011, aged 80, survived by his wife, Margareta, and his two daughters, Marit and Jette.

Selected recordings Mozart, Count Almaviva in The Marriage of Figaro, conducted by Sir Colin Davis, 1971, with Jessye Norman Larsson, Förklädd gud, conducted by Stig Westerberg, 1968–1974 Mozart, Don Giovanni, conducted by Colin Davis, 1973 Verdi, Cavaliere di Belfiore in Un giorno di regno, conducted by Lamberto Gardelli, 1973 Puccini, Baron Scarpia in Tosca, conducted by Colin Davis, 1976, with Montserrat Caballé Verdi, Count di Luna in Il trovatore, conducted by Richard Bonynge, 1976, with Dame Joan Sutherland and Marilyn Horne Donizetti, Belcore in L'elisir d'amore, conducted by Sir John Pritchard, 1977, with Plácido Domingo Donizetti, Don Alfonso in Lucrezia Borgia, conducted by Richard Bonynge, 1977 Leoncavallo, Tonio in Pagliacci, conducted by Giuseppe Patanè, 1977, with Mirella Freni Puccini, Michele in Il tabarro, conducted by Lorin Maazel, with Renata Scotto, 1977 Puccini, Sharpless in Madama Butterfly, conducted by Lorin Maazel, 1978, with Renata Scotto, Plácido Domingo and Gillian Knight Verdi, Renato in Un ballo in maschera, conducted by Colin Davis, 1978–1979, with José Carreras Puccini, Marcello in La bohème, conducted by Colin Davis, 1979, with Katia Ricciarelli Sjöberg, Fridas Visor, conducted by Åke Jelving, 1960 Verdi, Rigoletto in Rigoletto, conducted by Riccardo Chailly, 1983, with Edita Gruberová and Luciano Pavarotti, a film directed by Jean-Pierre Ponnelle Puccini, Baron Scarpia in Tosca, conducted by Daniel Oren, 1990, with Raina Kabaivanska Svenska ballader (Swedish ballads), by August Söderman, Wilhelm Peterson-Berger, Wilhelm Stenhammar and Ture Rangström, conducted by Johan Arnell, 1997