Tear, Robert (1939– )

Welsh tenor. He studied at Cambridge and sang with the English Opera Group 1963–71, creating roles in Britten's church parables The Burning Fiery Furnace and The Prodigal Son. He also created Dov in The Knot Garden at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London in 1970; other London roles have been Grimes, Lensky, and Paris in King Priam. At his Paris Opéra debut in 1976 he sang Loge and he returned in 1979 to sing the Painter in the first complete performance of Berg's Lulu. In 1985 he appeared at the Salzburg Festival, as Eumeo in the Henze/Monteverdi Ulisse. He created the title role in Penderecki's Ubu Rex (Munich, 1991), and was Mephisto in Prokofiev's Fiery Angel at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, in 1992.