Born in Vienna, From 1963 Gutstein belonged to the ensemble of the
Vienna State Opera. He performed there in almost 20 different roles in a total of 125 performances, including the Count in Mozart's
Le nozze di Figaro, Bartolo in Rossini's
Der Barbier von Sevilla, Telramund in Wagner's
Lohengrin and Faninal in
Der Rosenkavalier by Richard Strauss, considered as one of his signature roles. He also took on character parts from the German repertoire and contemporary music, including the music teacher in
Ariadne auf Naxos by Richard Strauss, Doctor Schön in Alban Berg's
Lulu, Alfred Ill in Gottfried von Einem's
The Visit of the Old Lady, and several roles in his
Der Prozeß. In the 1995/96 season, he appeared there again in two performances as theatre director La Roche in
Capriccio by Richard Strauss. In the spring of 1972 followed Wolf-Ferrari's
I quatro rusteghi; in November 1972 Gutstein appeared as Peter in Humperdinck's
Hänsel und Gretel. Other roles at the Volksoper included Kruschina in Smetana's
Die verkaufte Braut in 1973, Fadenkreutz in Blacher's
Preußisches Märchen in 1978, and the Brazilian in Offenbach's
La vie parisienne in 1980. In 1975, Gutstein sang Claude Frollo in Franz Schmidt's rarely performed
Notre Dame. Gutstein first appeared at the
Salzburg Festival in 1959 as Ernesto in Haydn's
Il mondo della luna, a role originally written for a
castrato. He returned there in 1978 and 1979 as Faninal. and as Jago in his
Othello, Gutstein made guest appearances at the
Royal Opera House Covent Garden in London (in 1986 as Graf Waldner), the
Metropolitan Opera in New York City (in 1979 and 1980 as Faninal), the
Dallas Opera (in 1982 as Faninal) and the
Houston Grand Opera (in 1990 as Faninal); at the
Glyndebourne Festival, he performed in 1985 and again in 1989 as Waldner alongside
Elisabeth Glauser, and in 1987 and 1990 as La Roche. -->In 1997, he sang the role of prison warden Frank in
Die Fledermaus by Johann Strauss at the Schlossfestspiele in
Schönbrunn Palace. The critic from
El Ciervo described his interpretation of La Roche in
Capriccio as "unforgettable" and showing "absolute mastery of the role", and both
John Steane and
Stanley Sadie praised his portrayal of the impoverished aristocrat Count Waldner in
Arabella. He also sang in the world premieres of several contemporary operas: as Perlimplin in Fortner's
In seinem Garten liebt Don Perlimplin Belisa at the
Schwetzingen Festival in 1962; the title role in the stage version of Henze's
Ein Landarzt at Frankfurt opera in 1965; as Graf von Stoffeln in
Josef Matthias Hauer's
Die schwarze Spinne at the
Theater an der Wien in 1966; and as Old Mahon in Klebe's
Ein wahrer Held at the
Opernhaus Zürich in 1975. After retiring from the stage, Gutstein became a professor at the Vienna Musikakademie, teaching there until shortly before his death at the age of 73. Several recordings of his performances on radio and record have been reissued. He appeared in a live recording of excerpts from Verdi's
Macbeth in Frankfurt, reviewed a highly motivated singer-actor, with the dark timbre of a full and mature
heldenbaritone, with almost no limits in the high register ("... hoch motivierten Sängerdarsteller mit der dunklen Farbe eines vollen, reifen, auch in der Höhe kaum Grenzen kennenden Heldenbaritons ..."). == References ==