Alfredo Kraus Trujillo, known professionally as Alfredo Kraus, was a Spanish lyric tenor born November 24, 1927, in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain. Kraus began piano lessons at age 4 and sang in his school choir at age 8. He made his international operatic debut in Cairo in 1956 as the Duke of Mantua in Rigoletto. He subsequently debuted at major opera houses, including the Royal Opera House in London as Edgardo in Lucia di Lammermoor (1959), La Scala in Milan as Elvino in La sonnambula (1959), the Chicago Lyric Opera (1962), and the Metropolitan Opera in New York as the Duke of Mantua in Rigoletto (1966). Renowned for his performances in lyric tenor roles and zarzuelas such as Doña Francisquita, Kraus also taught voice and established the Carillon record label in the early 1960s. His honors include the Premio Príncipe de Asturias de las Artes (1991) and the Gran Cruz de la Orden Civil de Alfonso X el Sabio (1996). In 1997, a concert hall in his birthplace, the Auditorio Alfredo Kraus, was named in his honor. Kraus died in Madrid, Spain, on September 10, 1999.
