Eberhard Waechter; Vienna State Opera Head

Eberhard Waechter, 63, director of the Vienna State Opera. Waechter, a baritone known for his roles in Mozart operas, was born in Vienna and descended from a noble Austrian family. He became director of the Volksoper, the second opera house in Vienna, in 1986 and moved to the State Opera last year. Directing Vienna’s State Opera was always “the wish of my life,” Waechter told Austrian TV recently. “Nobody can take that from me--not even the Viennese,” he joked, referring to the highly critical view the Viennese take of their opera and theater. He was last on stage at the opera house March 28 for a gala celebrating 150 years of the Vienna Philharmonic. On March 29 in Vienna of unreported causes.