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This busy tenor established his reputation early as a reliable artist in
Mozart and
Bach. With a voice less sensuous than those of
Léopold Simoneau or
Anton Dermota, he nonetheless was frequently engaged for stage performances, concert work, and recordings. Eventually, he ventured as far into a heavier repertory as Walter von Stolzing, a role he sang at the
Bayreuth Festival.
Kmentt's Metropolitan Opera debut -- in a speaking role -- awaited the new millennium, but still brought encomiums from audiences and the press. First intending to pursue a career as a pianist,
Kmentt later studied singing at the Vienna Academy of Music with Hans Duhan, Elisabeth Rado, and Adolf Vogel. At that time, he was selected to tour Belgium and the Netherlands with a student opera ensemble that included two singers who would later achieve considerable fame: tenor
Fritz Uhl and bass baritone
Walter Berry.
Kmentt's formal debut took place in 1950 with a performance in Vienna of
Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 conducted by
Karl Böhm. In 1951, he made his professional stage debut singing in a Wiener Volksoper production of
Prokofiev's The Love for Three Oranges. The year following,
Kmentt became a member of the Wiener Staatsoper. For the first three years of his tenure, the company performed at the Theater an der Wien while awaiting reconstruction of the company's own house. For the reopening of the Staatsoper in 1955,
Kmentt was cast as Jacquino in Fidelio, sharing the stage with such luminaries as
Martha Mödl,
Anton Dermota, and
Ludwig Weber. That same year, he made his debut at the Salzburg Festival singing Dandini in
Pfitzner's Palestrina.
Mozart served for his introduction to La Scala in 1968 when he sang the title role in Idomeneo.
Kmentt made his debut at Bayreuth the same year, singing Walter in Die Meistersinger. During the years of his prime, he also appeared frequently in operetta. When
Kmentt gradually relinquished leading roles, he moved into comprimario parts, such as the Major-Domo in Der Rosenkavalier. Ironically, it was another Major-Domo, this one in
Strauss' Ariadne auf Naxos, who finally brought
Kmentt to the Metropolitan Opera in spring 2001. Among
Kmentt's roles captured in recording are the tenor part in
Bach's St. Matthew Passion under
Møgens Wöldike, his Froh under
Solti, and his Ferrando with
Böhm, taped live at La Scala.