# Johan Botha



## interestedin (Jan 10, 2016)

1965 - 2016

Very sad news.











I saw him in Turandot only two months ago..


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

Sad news indeed, I did watch his Otello last night, any more information?

Erratum, died of cancer.


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## Bellinilover (Jul 24, 2013)

What a shock! I saw his Tannhauser in HD just last October.


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## anmhe (Feb 10, 2015)

He will be missed. RIP.


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## kineno (Jan 24, 2015)

I attended his Chicago and Met Tannhäusers within the last year. He sounded magnificent and healthy.


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## nina foresti (Mar 11, 2014)

Very sad news and way too young to go.
RIP


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## Bellinilover (Jul 24, 2013)

Pugg said:


> Sad news indeed, I did watch his Otello last night, any more information?
> 
> Erratum, died of cancer.


It was liver cancer, apparently. I'm a little confused, though, because as of mid-August he was reportedly cancer-free. Maybe he died not of cancer but of some related complication? Regardless, it's very sad.


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## anmhe (Feb 10, 2015)

Bellinilover said:


> It was liver cancer, apparently. I'm a little confused, though, because as of mid-August he was reportedly cancer-free. Maybe he died not of cancer but of some related complication? Regardless, it's very sad.


Cancer can be brutal; I lost a friend just this year to it. He was fine one day, the next day he was ill, and the week after he was diagnosed. Four months later he was gone. 
I have no idea about Botha's cancer timeline, but I'm sadly not shocked. I hope his family will be OK in time. My heart goes out to them.


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## Bellinilover (Jul 24, 2013)

anmhe said:


> Cancer can be brutal; I lost a friend just this year to it. He was fine one day, the next day he was ill, and the week after he was diagnosed. Four months later he was gone.
> I have no idea about Botha's cancer timeline, but I'm sadly not shocked. I hope his family will be OK in time. My heart goes out to them.


I'm sorry about your friend. Evidently, Botha was diagnosed last November and by mid-August was cancer-free/in remission. I wonder if what he actually died of was a heart attack or some other complication caused by the cancer treatment. Something similar happened to a distant relative of mine who, like Botha, was very much overweight.

It really is a shame, for his family and for the opera world. Rest in peace, Johan Botha.


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## Reichstag aus LICHT (Oct 25, 2010)

A real shame. Botha had a wonderful voice, and his Siegmund at Bayreuth was the best I'd ever heard.

Rest in peace.


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## jflatter (Mar 31, 2010)

I thought he had a wonderful sweet voice that seemed effortless. I saw him live in Tannhauser and Die Frau ohne Schatten at ROH. His Kaiser in particular was pretty stunning. I was meant to hear him sing Siegmund in Dresden when he cancelled around the time his health problems got serious. A great loss to the opera world and taken too early!


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