Jürgen Kesting, the German journalist, music critic and author, died on June 7, 2026, at the age of 85.
Born in Duisburg on January 1, 1940, he studied German and English culture and philosophy in Cologne and Vienna from 1960 to 1967. Kesting went on to work in the music industry as a press officer for Electrola and Munich’s Eurodisc before joining Stern in 1973, where he served as editor, department head, managing editor and writer.
He later became an author for the newspaper Die Woche and contributed to numerous radio broadcasts. Among his books was Die großen Sänger, a three-volume study published in 1986 that became a standard reference, followed by monographs on Maria Callas and Luciano Pavarotti.