Initially intending to become a chemist, Sotin also studied singing with Friedrich Wilhelm Hetzel and then with Dieter Jacob at the Dortmund Music High School. He made his operatic stage debut in 1962 at Essen as the Police Commissioner / Der Rosenkavalier and joined the Hamburg State Opera in 1964, at first taking small parts but soon graduating to almost all the principal bass roles in the company’s repertoire. Those for which he became best-known included Sarastro / Die Zauberflöte, King Mark / Tristan und Isolde, the Landgrave / Tannhäuser, Pogner / Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, Gurnemanz / Parsifal, Hunding / Die Walküre, Baron Ochs / Der Rosenkavalier and (later in his career) Wotan / Der...