Jon Andrews Like all muscles, the vocal cords weaken and grow less flexible with age. So most opera singers wisely hang up their wigs well before qualifying for a free bus pass. Indeed, one of the greatest of British singers, Dame Janet Baker, decided to retire from the opera stage before she turned 50. That was probably premature, but it offered an admirable contrast to some of her contemporaries whose “farewell tours”, lingering well into their seventies, were as painful as they were protracted.

There are notable exceptions. Placido Domingo, who sang in the Mexican premiere of My Fair Lady 50 years ago, is still in genuinely exciting form in his 69th year. He has been canny. He dropped heroic tenor roles such as Otello — requiring huge stamina and power in a stratospherically high part of the voice — in his early sixties. Instead, he moved with astonishing assurance into the baritone repertoire.

Another durable veteran, the magnificent British bass John Tomlinson, famously rescued the Royal Opera’s performances of Wagner’s Ring when Bryn Terfel pulled out. He stepped in at the last moment to sing the massive role of the god Wotan, who appears in three of the operas — a fittingly superhuman achievement for a 61-year-old.

But by far the most astonishing longevity in the opera world was clocked up by the Swiss tenor Hugues Cuenod. After singing for more than 60 years in Europe’s top opera houses, he became the oldest person ever to make a debut at the Metropolitan Opera, New York — as the Emperor in Puccini’s Turandot. That was in 1987 when he was 84. Two years later, I heard him make his Wigmore Hall debut — his voice quivering slightly, but still beautifully clear. He continued singing opera professionally into his nineties, though at 106 he is now taking on less work. His advice to young singers? “If you want your voice to last, don’t shout or scream the music, sing it.”

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