Tenor Paul Asciak, who took tenor Joseph Calleja under his wing and kick-started his career, has passed away at the age of 92.

Mr Asciak was a member of the Royal Opera House Covent Garden Company 1952 to 1954, and as guest artist up to 1958. He appeared over fifty times in various roles such as Melot in Tristan und Isolde, the Tenor Singer in Der Rosenkavalier, Flavio in Norma, Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly and Radames in Aida, apart from other operatic roles.

He sang with the Welsh National Opera Company from its very early years, the Dublin Grand Opera, Carl Rosa Opera Company, and others up to 1961. He performed several times on BBC sound and vision as well as on ITV (1952-59).

His guest appearances in Malta at the Radio City Opera House, the Orpheum Theatre, and the Argotti Gardens summer productions were eagerly looked forward to and received much critical acclaim. With visiting Italian companies he sung leading roles in Ernani, Carmen, Aida, Pagliacci, Il Trovatore and Verdi's Otello. It is sad to recall that the last of the three performances of Il Trovatore, held on Sunday 25th November 1959, was the last opera performed in the final season at the Radio City Opera House, Hamrun.

Throughout his operatic career other than the above, Asciak performed in the company of renowned singers like Maria Callas, Dame Joan Sutherland, Anita Cerquetti, Dame Joan Hammond, Amy Shuard, Ebe Stignani, Giulietta Simionato, Margreta Elkins, Anselmo Colzani, Carlo Tagliabue, Benvenuto Franci, Piero Cappuccilli, Peter Glossop, Sir Geraint Evans, Giulio Neri, Giacomo Vaghi, Ludwig Suthaus, Hans Braun and conductors like Anton Guadagno, Ottavio Ziino, Vittorio Gui, Peter Gellhorn, John Pritchard, Eric Kleiber, Sir John Barbirolli, Sir Charles Groves and others.

Asciak retired from the stage in May 1961 and dedicated his time to his family and teaching. He joined the Education Department in 1961 and retired as Head of Department of Music in 1984. In the meantime he was also Director of Music at St Edward's College between 1967 and 1973. Between 1965 and 1988, he was also Honorary Representative of Trinity College of Music, London, for Malta and Gozo.