Waldemar Kmentt (Vienna, 2 February 1929 – Vienna, 21 January 2015) was an Austrian operatictenor, who was particularly associated with the German repertory, bothopera andoperetta.
Born in Vienna, Kmentt studied at theVienna Music Academy, first the piano, and later voice with Adolf Vogel,Elisabeth Radó andHans Duhan.[1] In 1950, he sang the tenor-solo part in Beethoven'sNinth Symphony underKarl Böhm. His professional opera debut was in 1951 at theVienna State Opera, where he played the Prince inThe Love for Three Oranges. He appeared regularly at the Staatsoper for the next 35 years, in a total of 1,480 performances, and the company awarded him honorary membership in 1982.[1] His Salzburg Festival debut was in 1955 inHans Pfitzner'sPalestrina, as Dandini.[2] Other roles at Salzburg Festival particularly includeMozart roles (Belmonte,Don Ottavio,Ferrando,Tamino, and bothIdamante andIdomeneo).
Beginning in 1956, he appeared outside Austria, in places such asMilan, Rome, Paris,Amsterdam,Brussels, Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires, Berlin, andMunich (Idomeneo,Jenůfa,Die Frau ohne Schatten, andLes contes d'Hoffmann (The Tales of Hoffmann). He made his debut at theBayreuth Festival, as Walther von Stolzing inWagner'sDie Meistersinger von Nürnberg, in 1968. He also appeared regularly at theVienna Volksoper in operetta, notablyDie Fledermaus.
Other notable roles includedJacquino,Erik,Bacchus,The Emperor. He also sang a few Italian roles with success such asRodolfo,des Grieux,Ruggero, etc. In 1960, he created Gabriel inFrank Martin'sLe Mystère de la Nativité. Kmentt continued to sing into his sixties, in character roles such as Triquet inEugene Onegin, the Innkeeper inDer Rosenkavalier and Altoum inTurandot, while teaching at the Vienna Music Academy. His final Vienna State Opera performance was on 25 November 2005 as theHaushofmeister inAriadne auf Naxos.[1]
Kmentt is featured on such recordings asHerbert von Karajan's version of Beethoven's ninth symphony (1963), theGeorg SoltiDecca/London Records recordings ofArabella (1957) as Elemer,Das Rheingold (1958) as Froh,Tristan und Isolde (1960) as the Young Sailor, andSalome (1961) as Narraboth. He also recorded Narraboth underRudolf Moralt in 1952 forPhilips (Columbia in the U.S.) and sang the role in Vienna in 1972 underKarl Böhm in a live performance that later appeared onRCA and some "pirate" labels.[2]
