Tom Krause, whose father was the manager of an insurance company, initially studied to become a psychiatrist. He graduated in medicine from Helsinki University, but played piano and guitar in a jazz group while a student and his interest in music, especially singing, moved him gradually towards a musical career. Formal vocal studies began in 1956, in Hamburg and at the Vienna Academy of Music: Krause’s teachers included Margot Skoda, Sergio Nazor and Rudolf Bautz. Under the name Tomas Krause he made his debut as a lieder singer in Helsinki in 1957 and his operatic stage debut in 1959 at the Deutsche Oper in Berlin as Escamillo / Carmen.

After singing Kurwenal in Decca’s 1960 recording of Tristan und Isolde, conducted by Georg...