The career of German singer and conductor Peter Schreier blossomed just weeks after the bombing of Dresden in 1945, when he joined the famous Dresdner Kreuzchor boys’ choir as an alto aged 10. When his voice broke, Schreier became a tenor, and his gleaming vocal tone and intelligent response to words soon attracted the attention of German opera companies. He scored early successes in Mozart’s Die Entführung aus dem Serail (1782) and Die Zauberflöte (1791), eventually adding more than 60 operas to his repertoire. He was one of the few opera singers from communist East Germany to enjoy international exposure, making his debut at New York’s Metropolitan Opera in 1967. Schreier was also much in demand as a song recitalist, melding the natural elegance of his vocal style with a dramatic instinct honed from operatic experience. He made many song recordings, his three albums of Schubert’s song cycles with the pianist András Schiff being particular highlights. But it is perhaps for his performances of Bach that Schreier will be best remembered. He made a specialty of singing the Evangelist in Bach’s St. John (1724) and St. Matthew (1727) Passions, also conducting them. Schreier’s recordings of these masterpieces (1988/1984) are central to his large and highly distinguished discography. He died in 2019.