Gösta Winbergh

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Gösta Winbergh (Dec 13, 1943 – March 18, 2002) was a Swedish tenor.

Born in Stockholm. Often mentioned as Sweden's very finest tenor after Jussi Björling and Gedda. Gösta Winbergh did not come from a music family: he was a building engineer when he watched his first opera performance in 1967 (!) and then upon this experience decided that he wanted to be an opera singer instead. He applied for the opera class at Sweden's prestigious Royal Academy of Music, and was admitted on first try and trained 1969-71. The following years he worked at the Royal Opera in Stockholm, and gradually began to receive international attention in the 1980s when he guest performed on stages abroad. He later came to work several times at the opera house in Zürich and at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, USA. Famous, in particular, are his leading performances in Mozart's Don Giovanni, Wagner's Lohengrin, Verdi's Rigoletto and Puccini's Turandot.

Winbergh suffered a heart-attack and past away in Vienna, Austria in 2002, where he was performing at the time. To honour his memory and opera work The Gösta Winbergh Award (GWA) was instituted in Sweden after his death: the award is each year handed out to young, aspiring tenors through an arranged singing contest that takes place at the opera stage Confidencen, at the Ulriksdal Royal Estate (outside Stockholm). The first prize consists of 14.000 Euro and the second prize of 6.000 Euro.