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 und Kirill Petrenko, as well as with directors such as Andrea Breth, Romeo Castellucci, Frank Castorf, Barrie Kosky, Hans Neuenfels and Dmitri Tcherniakov. He appears as a guest artist with leading European ensembles such as the Berlin and Munich Philharmonics, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra and the Orchestre de Paris.
Important appearances have included the title roles in Dallapiccola’s Il prigioniero and Rihm’s Jakob Lenz in Salzburg, Papageno (Die Zauberflöte), Trojahn’s Orest, Nekrotzar (Le Grand Macabre) and Clov in Kurtág’s Fin de partie at the Vienna State Opera, Alberich (Das Rheingold) and Eisenstein (Die Fledermaus) at the Bavarian State Opera, Alberich (Siegfried) with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra under Simon Rattle and Don Alfonso (Così fan tutte) at the Théâtre du Châtelet.
Georg Nigl has inspired compositions by Friedrich Cerha, Pascal Dusapin, Georg Friedrich Haas, Wolfgang Mitterer, Olga Neuwirth and Wolfgang Rihm and most recently appeared in the world premieres of Furrer’s Violetter Schnee at the Berlin State Opera and Dusapin’s Macbeth Underworld in Brussels.
His concert repertory covers a broad spectrum. In 2024 he appeared in Sasha Waltz’s choreographed St John Passion at the Salzburg Easter Festival and in Paris. This season he presented his programme Die letzten Tage der Menschlichkeit with Nicholas Ofczarek in Vienna and Munich, and performs Nachtmusiken at the Bremen Music Festival.
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’ Annual Award.
In 2015, Opernwelt magazine voted him Singer of the Year for his performances in the title role of Rihm’s Jakob Lenz.
