At the 1976 premiere of the Bayreuth centenary production of Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen, there came a moment when Donald McIntyre, playing the part of Wotan, ruler of the gods, turned, in the second act of Die Walküre, to look into a full-length drawing-room mirror. While he whispered his innermost thoughts to his reflection as though scrutinising his own soul, the stillness in the Festspielhaus was breathtaking.

It was one of the great coups de théâtre of the iconoclastic director Patrice Chéreau, and McIntyre carried it off with aplomb. With his leonine physique, commanding stage presence and renowned abilities as a singer-actor, he was able to realise Chéreau’s concept of Wotan as a fallible, compromised worldly ruler rather than a supernatural being worthy of glorification.

That production was subsequently recorded and released on DVD, as well as being broadcast on television in both Britain and the US in single-act instalments, bringing the work to unprecedentedly widespread attention. It also marked the crowning point of the career of McIntyre, who has died aged 91. His first Wotan had been at Scheveningen in The Hague in a production where his waist-length hair made him look, he recalled, “like a cross between Jesus and Batman”.

Then followed performances at Covent Garden in Das Rheingold and Die Walküre (1970), a single Walküre at Bayreuth in 1971 and a Wanderer (in Siegfried) in 1972.

Finally he was invited to undertake the whole cycle at Bayreuth in 1973, in the production by Wolfgang Wagner, as well as the new Ring by Götz Friedrich at Covent Garden (1974) and made his debut at the Metropolitan, New York, as Wotan in Rheingold (1975).

By the time of the centenary Ring at Bayreuth in 1976, therefore, he had had the opportunity to hone his already considerable technical and interpretative command of the role. His first appearance at Bayreuth had in fact been as Telramund in 1967, followed by the Dutchman (1969), Klingsor (1970), Amfortas and Kurwenal (both 1974). For over 20 years he sang there regularly, making his final appearance, as Amfortas, in 1988. He himself believed his finest role was that of Hans Sachs, which he sang in Zurich, London, Sydney and Wellington.

In 2003, at the age of 68, he made a remarkable comeback as Alberich in Götterdämmerung at the Perth international arts festival, conducted by Lionel Friend, incarnating the avaricious dwarf, as he appears in a dream to his son Hagen, to chilling effect. Even more remarkably he appeared again in an all-star cast for Chéreau’s Elektra (Aix-en-Provence, 2013; Milan, 2014; Berlin, 2016), uttering his six words of text with undimmed dramatic conviction.

While Wagner was his speciality, McIntyre excelled also in Strauss (as Barak in Die Frau ohne Schatten and Jochanaan in Salome), as Pizarro in Fidelio, Scarpia in Tosca, Golaud in Pelléas et Mélisande and in the title roles of Rigoletto and Wozzeck.

He was born in Auckland, New Zealand, the son of George and Hermyn McIntyre. His mother was musical and encouraged his early promise of musical talent. In his teens, however, he also excelled at sport, especially rugby, to the extent that he was considered for selection by the All Blacks.

After leaving Mount Albert grammar school, McIntyre trained to be a teacher at Auckland Teachers’ Training College, but finally took up vocal study, first in Auckland with Hubert Milverton-Carva, then at the Guildhall School of Music in London. He had originally intended to study in Vienna, but in London he met his future wife, Jill Redington, prompting him to remain; they married in 1961 and went on to have three daughters.

He made his debut in 1959 as Zaccaria in Nabucco with the Welsh National Opera, then joined the Sadler’s Wells company where, between 1960 and 1967, he undertook more than 30 roles, including Mozart’s Figaro, Caspar in Der Freischütz and Pennybank Bill in the first British staging of Mahagonny (1963). He made his Covent Garden debut in 1967 as Pizarro and subsequently appeared many times there and at other major houses such as Vienna, Munich, Berlin, Chicago, La Scala and Paris.

Contemporary roles in which he appeared included Axel Heyst in Richard Rodney Bennett’s Victory (1970) and Prospero in Berio’s Un Re in Ascolto (British premiere, Covent Garden, 1989, followed by Opéra Bastille, 1991).

He had to work hard at his languages, and in his autobiography The Only Way Is Up: Reflections on a Life in Opera (2019) made generous mention of his coaches in foreign languages, including Hilde Beal for German, and Norman Feasey and Janine Reiss for French. During his time at Sadler’s Wells, too, he was indebted to the director Glen Byam Shaw, who helped him “get my words across without having to worry about foreign languages”. Byam Shaw also taught him how to act, standing him in good stead for the rest of his career. McIntyre also acknowledged the huge role in his Wagner successes played by Reginald Goodall with his meticulous coaching undertaken in the upper-floor room at Covent Garden known as Valhalla.

This conscientious attention to detail paid handsome dividends: his care for the meaning and articulation of the text, as well as vocal colouring and character psychology, ensured that his delivery was always vividly expressive. In person, too, he was ebullient and gregarious, keen to find the humour in any situation.

Appointed OBE in 1977 and CBE in 1985, he was knighted in 1992.

His first marriage ended in divorce. In 2014 he married Bettina Jablonski, and she survives him, along with his daughters.

• Donald Conroy McIntyre, opera singer, born 22 October 1934; died 13 November 2025