PETER MCBRIEN:PETER McBRIEN, who has died aged 81, was probably Ireland's most distinguished baritone of the last 60 years.
As a young singer he received offers to make a career in Germany and Britain, but his loyalties were to his family, friends and city. Germany's and Britain's loss was Ireland's gain, to which his many individual pupils and choirs - Garda, Cantabile and Dublin Male Voice - would testify.
Born in Dublin in 1929, he was one of five children of Jack McBrien and his wife Anna (née Sheridan). He grew up in Drumcondra and was educated at O'Connell Schools and the Salesian College, Pallaskenry, Co Limerick.
He first became interested in music when he took up the violin. Encouraged by his mother, he then concentrated on singing. He won the Feis Ceoil gold medal for boy soprano in 1943.
He sang as a soloist with the choir of St Francis Xavier's church, Gardiner Street, until just after his 16th birthday. When his adult voice returned, after three years, he was a high baritone.
Awarded a scholarship, he studied with the Maestro Viani [ sic], Michael O'Higgins and Denis Noble. He then joined the Raidío Éireann Singers under Hans Waldemar Rosen, with whom he made many tours abroad.
Outside his day job he found time to sing all over Ireland, in recital, concerts, oratorio and in his great love, opera, in every type of role, from what he called a "cough and a spit part" to leading roles.
The latter included Germont père (La Traviata) and the jester in Rigoletto. In all, he mastered 39 baritone roles and regularly performed at the Wexford Opera Festival.
In addition to singing at the Theatre Royal and the Gaiety, he also gave solo recitals on radio.
He took part in the Irish premiere of Benjamin Britten's War Requiem at St Patrick's Cathedral in 1963, and in March 1967 sang during Hungarian-Australian conductor Tibor Paul's penultimate public appearance in Ireland.
Extended Irish National Opera tours meant that he had the satisfaction of playing the title role in Don Giovanni more than 50 times.Charles Acton in this newspaper in January 1968 wrote that he was pleasantly surprised by McBrien's success "in bringing the Don alive".
Eighteen months later, Acton praised McBrien's Figaro as outstanding: "The stage took on a sparkle whenever he appeared."
Other roles in which McBrien shone were Orsino in Twelfth Night and Bartolo in The Barber of Seville. His last notice was for his role in the Lyric Opera production of Tosca at the National Concert Hall in 2002.
He will be widely missed in music circles, particularly by his friends in the Bohemian Music Club, of which he was a long-time member.
His wife Angela and daughter Ciara survive him.
Peter McBrien: born August 13th, 1929; died October 7th, 2010