The Austrian baritone Georg Nigl is a central figure in European music and appears regularly at leading opera houses, including the Berlin, Bavarian, Hamburg and Vienna State Operas, the Dutch National Opera in Amsterdam, the Zurich Opera House, La Scala, Milan, and the Teatro Real in Madrid, as well as at festivals such as the Salzburg Festival, the Ruhrtriennale, the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence and the Vienna Festival. He has worked with eminent conductors such as Daniel Barenboim, Teodor Currentzis, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, René Jacobs, Kent Nagano and Kirill Petrenko, as well as with directors such as Andrea Breth, Romeo Castellucci, Frank Castorf, Claus Guth, Barrie Kosky, Tobias Kratzer, Hans Neuenfels, Dmitri Tcherniakov and Sasha Waltz.
Highlights in 2025/26 have included the revivals of Kurtág’s Fin de partie and Ligeti’s Le Grand Macabre and Alberich (Das Rheingold) at the Vienna State Opera, the world premiere of Olga Neuwirth’s Monster’s Paradise in Hamburg and Zurich, and performances with the Concentus Musicus Wien at the Vienna Musikverein and with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra under Simon Rattle in Munich.
He has inspired compositions by Friedrich Cerha, Pascal Dusapin, Georg Friedrich Haas, Wolfgang Mitterer, Olga Neuwirth, Wolfgang Rihm and Matthias Pintscher.
Important appearances have included the world premieres of Beat Furrer’s Violetter Schnee in Berlin and Dusapin’s Macbeth Underworld at La Monnaie in Brussels, and Klingsor (Parsifal) at the Tyrolean Festival Erl. His appearances in Salzburg have included Henze’s Das Floß der Medusa, Dallapiccola’s Il prigioniero and Rihm’s Jakob Lenz, and his recital series Kleine Nachtmusiken. Other roles to date include the title role of Wozzeck, Monteverdi’s Orfeo and Ulisse, Eisenstein (Die Fledermaus) and Don Alfonso (Così fan tutte).
His recordings have won numerous awards. His album Bach privat was awarded the Diapason d’Or, and his recording Vanitas received the German Record Critics’ Award. Most recently, in 2025, he released the album Mozart’s Clavichord with Alexander Gergelyfi on Alpha Classics.
In 2015, Opernwelt magazine voted him Singer of the Year for his interpretation of the title role of Rihm’s Jakob Lenz, and in 2025 he received the Austrian Music Theatre Prize for his interpretation of Nekrotzar (Le Grand Macabre).
