Daniel Bonic-Goodwin remembers the Japanese-American countertenor, who died earlier this week aged 49.

They say that when a star dies, it can outshine an entire galaxy. When Australia first met the Japanese-American countertenor Brian Asawa, he dazzled with more intensity and light than many had seen before.

A voice of splendid colour and richness, Brian graced our stages many times – through the 2010 Adelaide Festival playing the high-octane, lamé-clad Prince Go-Go in Ligeti’s Le Grand Macabre, to earlier offerings working with the best of the nation’s baroque heavyweights including the much-loved soprano Jane Edwards, and also the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra under the helm of distinguished guide, and champion of the countertenor voice, Paul Dyer AO.

A bellwether, teacher and mentor for many countertenors that followed, Brian’s early career moments stemmed from winning the highly prestigious Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions in 1991, and he was the first countertenor Adler Fellow at San Francisco Opera. With a mighty Richard Tucker Music Foundation award under his belt, coupled with his exemplary vocal technique (the envy of many countertenors and mezzos alike), he took out the top prize at Placido Domingo’s Operalia International Vocal Competition in 1994, setting the star firmly in...