A Bulgarian lawyer who went on to become a Wagnerian tenor has died.

Spas Wenkoff left his law practice to sing full time. Be began in operettas, then moved to Italian opera, before taking on Wagner. His international breakthrough came in 1975 playing the title role in Wagner’s Tristan and Isolde.

That led to a career performing Wagner in some of the biggest opera houses in the world, including the Bayreuth Festival, the Berlin State Opera, and the Metropolitan Opera.

Spas Wenkoff was 84.