Prey was born at Berlin on July 11, 1929. He studied at Berlin, an debuted,
after winning a contest of Hessischer Rundfunk Frankfurt, at Wiesbaden in
1952. 1953, he joined the Hamburger Staatsoper. Since 1956, he appeared
frequently at Berlin and Vienna. In 1959 he deubted at the Bayerische
Staatsoper Munich, as well as at the Salzburger Festspiele (as Barbier in
Strauss's "Die Schweigsame Frau", which was also Fritz Wunderlich's Salzburg
debut, who was a close friend to Hermann Prey), where he often sang
Guglielmo and Papageno in subsequent years. 1968 he was the protagonist in
the Ponnelle/Abbado production of Rossini's "Barbiere di Siviglia". Between
1960 and 1970, he performed numerous times at the New York MET, where he
debuted as Wolfram. (In 1987, he again appeared at the MET as Musikmeister
in "Ariadne auf Naxos".) In 1965, he debuted at Bayreuth, again as Wolfram.
In 1981, he returned to Bayreuth as Beckmesser. IN 1973, he debuted at
London as Rossini's Barbiere, and subsequently sang Guglielmo, Papageno,
Eisenstein there. Although he had sung Verdi parts in his early years, he
later concentrated on Mozart and Strauss: Olivier (Hamburg 1957), Harlekin
(Munich 1960), Robert Storch (Munich 1960). In 1997, he sang Sprecher at the
Salzburger Festspiele. He frequently appeared in the lighter genres of
"Spieloper" and Operetta as well as on TV shows, which made him
extraordinary popular in Germany. He is also widely known for his Lieder
recitals, both on stage and on recordings. His uncountable recordings range
from Lieder to opera and oratorio. In 1981, he wrote a autobiography
"Premierenfieber" (which was later also issued in English as "First Night
Fever"). In 1988, he directed a production of Nozze di Figaro at Salzburg.
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