West News Wire: Tenor Stephen Gould, passed away after making his terminal bile duct cancer diagnosis public earlier this month. He was 61.
Stephanie Ammann, Gould’s representative, announced the singer passed away in Virginia on Tuesday. There were no other details available right away.
This summer, the singer withdrew from the Bayreuth Festival in Germany, where he was set to play Siegfried in “Götterdämmerung,” the main roles in “Tannhäuser,” “Tristan und Isolde,” and other plays.
Gould claimed that the reason he made the statement following the conclusion of the Bayreuth Festival last week was because “I did not wish anything to cloud this year’s achievements.”
Frequently appearing as a heroic tenor, Gould performed at many of the world’s great opera houses. He debuted in Richard Wagner’s “Ring” cycle in Bayreuth in 2006, earning raves during the challenging four-nights of performances.
The Associated Press called him “a naturally engaging performer, unusually athletic and youthful as befits the teenage hero” during his performance of the third “Ring” show, “Siegfried.”
According to the Mayo Clinic, biliary tract cancer often doesn’t cause any symptoms in the early stages. It’s often discovered by accident for example, through routine blood tests or imaging done for an unrelated reason.
He is survived by his sister.
