Robert Tear was born and educated in Wales, and became a choral scholar at King’s College, Cambridge. Throughout his career he showed versatility and great talent as one of the world’s leading tenors and worked with many eminent conductors. He was sought by all the major opera houses of Europe and the United States and was a regular guest of various orchestras. He appeared at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, on a regular basis since his début in l970. In 1988/89 he made his début with English National Opera in the Turn of the Screw and the following season included his highly successful début as Aschenbach in Death in Venice with the Glyndebourne Touring Company, later filmed by BBC TV.

Robert Tear was also greatly in demand as a concert singer, appearing regularly at the South Bank Centre and in many European capitals. He worked on many television projects, including the Jeunesses Musicales War Requiem performances in East and West Berlin to celebrate the city’s 750th Anniversary in l987. Other engagements included a performance at the Wigmore Hall in which he performed Britten Song Cycles and Out of Winter by Jonathan Dove to Robert Tear’s own texts. He made well over 250 records for every major recording company, including Bach cantatas, numerous recital records, Victorian ballads with his friends Benjamin Luxon and André Previn, Britten’s Serenade and Nocturne with Giulini, and all the major choral works. He was an Honorary Fellow of King’s College, Cambridge, and in 1984 was awarded the CBE Robert Tear died on 29 March 2011.